Despair, For All of Eternity
by Xrangel
Summary: Makoto Naegi fills his classmates with enough hope to move forward. This hope encouraged them to face the Despair of the world and defeat Junko. But this defeat was part of Junko's plan. He played into her hands and must endure an eternity of Despair for it.
1. Prologue

Makoto Naegi.

His relentless optimism in practically any situation serves well to encourage those who are around him. In fact, Naegi would say that the only thing extraordinary about him is his bad luck and optimism. Everything else about him could be described as average - his tastes, his hobbies, his looks, and so on.

His official title was the Ultimate Luckster.

But to Junko…

"God, this kid is an Ultimate Annoyance!"  
Before The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History, Junko must have played hundreds of various tricks and pranks on him during the school years in order to try and get him to despair. She would have done almost anything to see Naegi suffer even an ounce of despair. But no matter how many cruel things she does to him, he had always bounced right back and forgiven her.

Once, Junko had literally set his dorm room on fire.

_On. Fucking. Fire._

Doing something like that would cause any _normal_ person to hate Junko. She knew this from experience - she had ruined many relationships, both business and casual by setting those things on fire. It was one of her 'pranks' that she almost never got bored of. But when she tried it on Naegi...

"It's okay Junko. At least no one got hurt!" Naegi smiles brightly at her, shooting at the high flames in his room with a fire extinguisher.

"What?! I set your room on fire! Don't you hate me? Aren't you despairing?" Junko groans dramatically, facepalming. He had to feel at least _some _despair!

"Well, nothing really important burnt up." Naegi gestures to a corner in his room. There, piles of various papers and objects lay. He had gotten them all out of harm's way before the fire could get to them. "It's okay. I forgive you."

…

This was stupid.

* * *

Hope's Peak Academy had been transformed into a safe sanctuary for the students. How ironically despairing would it be if it becomes a place where the students meet their end? Just the very thought of seeing these symbols of hope murder each other was enough to send shivers down Junko's spine.

Junko giddily hugs herself, smiling like a lunatic. This was the pinnacle of her career! Soon, the whole world will feel despair.

The plan was great. She had everything set up but there was still one issue.

_Makoto Naegi._

Even if he gets trapped in a killing game, it wasn't certain that he would despair. She needed him to experience full despair for this plan to be satisfactory.

But how would she do that? Naegi was mentally strong and always spread hope among his fellow classmates. That was the most annoying part of him - Not only was the luckster himself filled with hope, but he also filled the people around him with hope.

Luckily though, Junko had a special plan for Naegi.

Using the talents of Izuru Kamukura, the Ultimate Hope, as well as the talents of some of her followers like Kazuichi Soda and Yasuke Matsuda, she managed to create the greatest tool for despair ever!

The world's first time machine.

Of course, it isn't a typical time machine. Instead of allowing someone to travel through time, it _forces _someone to travel through time.

In other words, an imposed time loop. And Junko had the perfect target in mind for this time loop.

Fingering the remote, Junko giggles to herself. The remote in mention was the only controller in all of Hope's Peak that could open the gigantic lock on the front door. However, Junko had modified it to double as a coordinator for her time loop machine. If everything went to plan, Naegi would be the one who ends up pressing this button.

"Hehehehehe! Let's see how long Mr. Hope lasts when he's forced to play this Killing Game for all of eternity!"

* * *

***A/N*: This is a rewrite of my Eternal Despair fic. I reread it recently and I thought to myself - 'wow, there are so many things wrong with this'.**

** Hopefully I can make it better this time around**


	2. Act 1, Chapter 1

"_You have seen the true sides of Hope and Despair."_

"_..."_

"_Have you found the answer?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Which is stronger?"_

"_Hope can be easily transformed into Despair. The more Hope you have early on, the more Despair you get later. That is, if you turn into Despair at all."_

"_That doesn't answer my question."_

"_Hope is much stronger than Despair. That is my answer."_

"_..."_

"_But only at the beginning."_

* * *

_Act One_

_Hope Incarnate_

"_Finally… We are finally free. But there wasn't even time to take a breath of relief. Because the real fight had just begun."_

_-Makoto Naegi_

* * *

**The 1st Killing School Game.**

The conveyor belt halts to a sudden stop.

The incredibly large compactor stalls.

Below said large compactor, Junko Enoshima was hugging an inactive Monokuma robot while waving to the other surviving students. She was the mastermind - the genius model behind the Killing Game at Hope's Peak Academy, as well as the Tragedy that had brought the outside world into ruin. Thanks to her, humanity had been brought to its knees, in the name of despair. She was the Ultimate Despair, Ultimate Fashionista, and the Ultimate Analyst.

Makoto Naegi, Kyoko Kirigiri, Yasuhiro, Toko Fukawa, Aoi Asahina, Byakuya Togami…

Even Junko Enoshima herself, in her battered state was kept in suspense. This was supposed to be the finale to her execution. After being voted for during the last class trial, she had subjected herself to a gruesome execution that was made up of every other execution that she had used.

_The 1,000 Blows_

_The Cage of Death_

_The Burning of the Versailles Witch_

_Excavator Destroyer_

_After School Lesson_

All of it was combined in order to make the Ultimate Execution. Somehow, Junko had managed to survive the first four executions. Now, she sat beaten and bloody as the compactor in _After School Lesson _stalls above her. This execution was meant for Naegi. However, due to his luck, he had ended up surviving.

Would the execution fail once more? Would Junko live to see another day? It wasn't impossible to think that she would somehow live. She had cheated death once before - by using her sister as a decoy. Mukuro Ikusaba, who was disguised as Junko was dead, impaled by various spears.

_*BANG*_

The resounding smack as Junko Enoshima was reduced to nothing more than a pink splatter answers them.

Nope. Junko was dead, this time for good.

All that remained was a handheld remote with a large red button - presumably the remote to open the front door.

The Killing Game at Hope's Peak Academy was over.

* * *

The surviving students quickly and silently made their way to the entrance where the giant lock awaits them. There was no time to delay - as Junko had said, the air purifiers had already shut down. They needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

For a moment, they all just stand in front of the locked door in silence. To no one's surprise, it was Kirigiri who broke the silence.

"We can't just stand around like this forever. At some point we need to leave." The detective states in her usual cool demeanor.

"Naegi, would you like to do the honors?"

"A-Alright." Naegi grasps the remote with both of his hands, staring at it as if he was unsure what to do. It was obvious what needed to be done - just press the large red button. But for some reason, Naegi was unnerved by the remote. His mind was telling him that he shouldn't press the button.

"B-But… is that really it? Is this really the remote for this door?" Asahina stares anxiously at him.

"You don't need to read into what she said too much to find the answer." Kyoko says.

_I will force you out, ensuring you all die horrible deaths in the outside world._

"But you never know. Maybe it's actually a switch that's gonna make the school self-destruct! I mean, Junko never said specifically that she'd let us leave here alive!" Hagakure points out nervously.

"I suppose that's possible."

"IT IS?!" The clairvoyant shouts, sweating bullets.

"Even if there's a possibility of that happening, it would be stupid to not take our chances with it anyway." Byakuya rolls his eyes at Hagakure's stupidity. It was useless to start worrying about that kind of stuff at this point. Unless they all wanted to slowly suffocate in this building, they needed to get out, regardless of the risk.

"Kyeehaha!" Genocider Jill laughs maniacally as she brings out her scissors. "There's nothin' to worry about! If something ever happened to Master, I'd take my scissors and jam 'em so far up- Achoo!"

"... Huh? W-Where am I? Wh-Where's the courtroom? Weren't we fighting against t-the mastermind?" Toko frantically looks around, confused.

"It's all over. We're just about to leave the school." Asahina quickly informs Toko of their situation.

"We can l-leave?!" Toko steals a lustful glance at Byakuya, drool seeping out of her mouth. "That means that M-Master and I can finally get married?!"

"Not in a million years." The affluent prodigy sneers disdainfully.

"I would gladly wait that long for you, my white knight!" Instead of being dejected, Toko takes the insult in stride.

"Anyway…" Kirigiri clears her throat. "I have no doubt that we'll be able to leave here without a problem. Don't worry."

"Yeah, it's just what happens _after _we get outside that worries me." Asahina frowns.

"B-But you know… In the end, a part of me still thinks that maybe when we get out of here, we'll see that everything she said about the world was a lie." Hagakure says. "That on the other side of this door is a world as peaceful as we remember. I know that sounds dumb, but…"

Naegi smiles at Hagakure reassuringly. "Well no matter what it looks like, it's still our world. It's where we're meant to live."

"I guess…"

"And… how do I put this? Unlike this school, the world is really big, right? Since it's so big, I'm sure that there must be some despair. But there also has to be lots of hope."

"The act of searching for hope, to try and find it - that by itself is the true meaning of hope. As long as you have that hope, you can keep moving forward no matter what trouble you may fall into." Kirigiri smiles gently at Naegi. "Is that what you meant?"

Naegi laughs awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. Kirigiri had turned his awkward sentences into a quote that would be found in the book of a philosopher. "Yeah, that's the general gist of it… I guess."

"Hmph. Rest assured that I, Byakuya Togami, will rebuild this world from scratch if need be. Once I get out of here, I shall see to it that the Togami Empire shall return to its former glory."

"When I get out of here, the first thing I'm going for is a donut shop! I'm getting myself hundreds, no _thousands _of donuts!"

"Erm, there might not be any open donut shops if it's an apocalypse out there." Hagakure comments.

"Well, I'll make my own donut shop!"

"Come on, Naegi." Kirigiri says with a touch of impatience in her voice.

Naegi nods. "It's time… time that we move forwards!"

Kirigiri nods. "Even if everyone in the outside world is gone… Even if the world is steeped in despair… As long as I have people like you around, I can face forward and keep moving. If we can get out of here and do something, have some kind of impact, then that we should work for it."

Taking a deep breath, Naegi turns to the door. As he does this, the banter halts to a stop and the other students of class 78 turn to the door.

Despair.

The world ahead is undoubtedly filled with despair. But in the cracks of despair, seeds of hope are planted. These seeds of hope will grow into something bigger, something greater.

_I'm going to keep moving forward, with hope in my heart._

_Since I have hope, I can show courage._

_Since I have hope, I can move forwards._

_The world can move ahead._

Makoto Naegi presses the button.

* * *

**The 2nd Killing School Game.**

Pain.

This is what Makoto Naegi is currently feeling. He was suffering from a headache that was so bad that Naegi thought his head was surely being split into two. It was as if an iron pike was being stabbed into his brain.

_What's… happening to me?_

The last thing he remembered was pressing the remote to open the lock to the outside world. He and his friends had stopped Junko Enoshima and escaped from Hope's Peak. They were going to face the outside world, together.

Then, as suddenly as it came, the headache stops. All that remained was a subtle feeling of drowsiness. As the pain recedes, Naegi slowly and deliberately raises his head from his arms. For some reason, he was burrowing his head into them.

He was in a familiar room with bolted windows. In this room, there were several desks and a security camera. A small string of drool had been going down the side of his mouth.

"What the heck? I'm still at school? " Naegi says out loud. He looks around frantically - Sure enough, he was in a classroom. In fact, it looked like this was the classroom that he first woke up in.

This didn't make any sense. Why would he still be in here?

_Unless… Was that all just a dream?_

Cautiously, Naegi checks the desk that he was sleeping on. There was a cheap looking pamphlet in it… just like last time.

"_The next semester is about to start. Starting today, this school will be your entire world."_

"The same pamphlet from when I first woke up…" Naegi mumbles to himself.

_I better see if I can find anyone else. _Naegi thinks to himself, walking out to the hallway.

"Hey! Kirigiri? Asahina? Hagakure? Togami? Any of you guys out here?" Naegi calls out while walking around.

No response.

_Maybe the main hall? The door should still be open…_

As Naegi walks into the main hall, something causes him to stop abruptly.

"W-Wha…" The luckster stammers at the sight in front of him. His heart freezes as his breath is caught in his throat. Instantly, Naegi's face goes completely pale.

Everyone was there… just standing around, nonchalantly.

"Oh hey. Another new kid!" Owada walks up to him with his hand raised in a greeting. Owada had been executed by Monokuma - electrocuted and melted, he had been turned into butter (somehow) and eaten by the sadistic bear over a pile of pancakes. And yet here he was, alive and well.

Not just Owada either. Everyone who had been murdered or executed by Monokuma was here. All 14 of them… are still alive?

"H-How is this possible?" Naegi's face was as white as a sheet, as if he had just seen a ghost.

Or rather, 9 ghosts.

"Huh? How is _what _possible?" Owada asks, frowning.

Slowly, Naegi turns his gaze to Maizono. The last time he saw her, she was sitting up against his bathroom wall with a knife stuck to her stomach, blood pouring out of her like a fountain. She was most definitely dead, murdered by Leon Kuwata.

But here she was, smiling softly and waving her hand at Naegi.

This was too much. Naegi's eyes roll up to the back of his head as he promptly faints. His brain had practically overloaded.

"Woah, hey!" Owada stumbles back as he watches Naegi fall onto the ground.

"Did he seriously just faint?" Kuwata scratches the back of his head, clearly uncomfortable.

"Naegi?" Maizono quickly walks up to the unconscious luckster and kneels down next to him. "Naegi, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Do you know this kid?" Owada asks.

"Yeah. We… We went to junior high together. His name is Makoto Naegi." Maizono says as she stands back up again.

Owada scoops up Makoto and puts him over his shoulder in a sort of fireman carry. "I'll hold on to him until he wakes up I guess. Sheesh, what a pain…"

* * *

"Listen up asshole! This shit's gone way too far! What the hell kinda joke is this?!" Owada furiously steps in front of Monokuma, fists clenched.

Monokuma had just finished explaining the rules to the students - They would be forced to live here forever unless they decide to murder each other.

"Joke? What, you mean like your hair?"

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?!"

"Oh? Have one of your students died already? I'm super impressed!" Monokuma cackles gleefully as he points his paw at Naegi, who was still unconscious and being carried by Owada. "Such bloodlust!"

"FUCK YOU!" Owada roughly puts Naegi's body down on the floor and picks up Monokuma with one arm.

"Gotcha, you little piece of shit! I dunno if you're a toy or a stuffed animal or whatever but either way, I'm gonna rip you to fuckin' shreds!"

"Wah! Violence against the headmaster is in violation of school regulation!" Monokuma cries out, flapping his stubby arms and legs around.

"Shut the fuck up!"

Suddenly, a loud beeping noise comes out of the bear. At the same time, Monokuma abruptly stops struggling and instead goes limp in Owada's hand.

_*BEEP*_

"Huh? No smart-ass comeback this time?"

_*BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.*_

"STOP BEEPING AND SAY SOMETHING!" Mondo roars.

"Watch out!" Kyoko suddenly shouts. "Get rid of it! Now!"

"Huh?"

_*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*_

"Throw it already!"

Owada hesitates slightly before nodding and tossing Monokuma far up into the air. No less than 3 seconds later, a giant explosion manifests from the thrown Monokuma, sending shockwaves throughout the gym. Several students wince and put their hands up to their ears.

_*KABOOM*_

"Ah!" The sound of the giant explosion was enough to finally get Naegi out of his faint spell. "What's going on? What was that?" Naegi looks around frantically.

"The hell?" Owada gapes up at the air as small fragments of the bear fall down. A scrap of metal falls on Owada's face but he doesn't even flinch. "That sure as shit wasn't a joke. It blew the hell up!"

"Welcome back to the land of the living." Togami sneers at Naegi.

"Is that… Smoke? What happened?"

"That dumbass bear blew up, that's what happened!"

"Hey this means that the teddy bear is dead now!" Fujisaki pipes up hopefully. "Right?"

_*Boing*_

A cartoonish sound effect echoes through the gym as another Monokuma springs up from literally nowhere. The Monokuma was visually identical to the one that just blew up. In fact, if you didn't see the Monokuma explode, then you wouldn't have noticed any difference.

"I told you already! I'm not a teddy bear, I'm Monokuma!"

"Another one?!" Kuwata yelps, backing up several steps.

"Son of a bitch! It just tried to kill me!" Owada clenches his fists hard. Veins pop up from his neck and arms, but he refrains from attacking Monokuma again.

"It's happening… again?" Naegi whispers to himself. It was the exact same situation as last time. For some reason, it was all repeating. He had gone through the door. He had beaten Junko and escaped from the school. Despite all of that, he was back at the start. It was as if nothing had happened.

_This is too real to be a dream. Were we captured and put into this situation again? Maybe since the first killing game ended as a failure, Junko tried again… Wait, what am I thinking?! Junko is dead! So was Owada! So was everyone else! What's going on here?!_

"Naegi, you've been keeping quiet. Despite being woken up to an unfamiliar situation, you seem to have little questions. Aren't you confused as to what's happening?" Kirigiri's voice suddenly breaks up Naegi's thoughts.

"Huh? O-Oh. You mean the killing game, right?" Naegi says nervously.

Kirigiri's gaze suddenly sharpens. Naegi had been unconscious throughout Monokuma's entire explanation. He had no way to know that they were in a killing game… unless he knew something that they didn't. Was he working with whoever was behind Monokuma?

"He must be plotting to m-murder someone!" Fukawa shrieks and points at Naegi. "It's me isn't it?! Y-Y-You all hate me anyway! Don't get near me!"

"A lie. That's what this is. All these ridiculous things we've heard… This all has to be fake!" Ishimaru declares. Despite his apparent confidence, large beads of sweat were dripping down his forehead like a waterfall.

"Yeah!" Hagakure frantically nods his head in agreement. "Obviously a joke, a prank! Nothing that the bear said is real!"

"Idiots, all of you." Togami scoffs, unperturbed by the situation that he and everyone else had found themselves in.

Naegi was as worried as everyone else was, but for entirely different reasons.

* * *

I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"Stop! We shouldn't fight!" Naegi steps in between Togami and Owada. Just like last time, Togami and Owada had gotten into a fight. Togami's cold statements were more than enough to provoke the bike gang leader into threatening him.

Of course, Naegi knows that Owada was going to punch him if he interferes. But maybe he could use this knowledge to his advantage.

"The fuck you just say?" You some kinda goody-goody little bitch?" Owada snarls, cracking his knuckles. "Get outta my way you fainting pansy! The fuck you think you are, my mom?"

"That's not what I'm trying to say here." Naegi puts up his hands in a gesture of peace.

"FUCK YOU!" Owada roars and swings his arm.

_*Whiff*_

Naegi pulls back before Owada could punch him, cleanly dodging his attack.

"Ugh! Fuckin' prick!" Owada tries winding up another punch but before he could strike again, Ogami holds his arm back.

"That is enough." Ogami warns with a dangerous aura. The air around her literally crackles with energy as she glares down at Owada. "This is no time to be fighting.

Paling slightly, Owada scoffs. "Whatever."

Nodding, Ogami turns her attention at Naegi. "Nice dodge. I didn't expect you to have such quick reflexes if I were to be honest."

Naegi chuckles awkwardly. "Thanks, I guess."

_It really is all happening exactly the same…_

* * *

"I'm really sorry to come by so late."

Naegi stares at Maizono who was standing in front of his room. Her body was trembling and her body was deathly pale. Naegi could see hints of tears present in her eyes, threatening to spill out.

"Sorry to bother you but…. Something weird just happe-"

"Please be honest with me Sayaka." Naegi puts his hand up, interrupting Maizono. He stares into her eyes with an uncharacteristically grave expression.

"H-Huh?" Maizono blinks. "What do you mean?"

"I know, Maizono. I know what you're planning."

Maizono's eyes fill with panic. Instinctively, she takes a step back and gapes at Naegi. "Naegi, I-"

"Maizono, there's no need to be so desperate!" Rushing forwards, Naegi grasps Maizono's hands, causing her to gasp. "Please… don't do this."

…

"My pop idol group was on the motive video. I… I need to check up on them. I need to get out of here! My dream, it's…"

Maizono gasps as Naegi suddenly pulls her into a tight embrace. The comfortable warmth that suddenly seeps into her body causes her to shiver. Slowly, she puts her arms around Naegi and returns his hug.

"We will get out of here, together. I promised you before and I will promise you now."

_Why? Naegi knew that I was going to kill someone… But he still trusts me? I don't deserve this._

"I was going to… kill someone. I was going to frame you."

"I know."

"I-If you knew, then why are you being so trusting towards me?" Maizono whispers. "If you knew I was going to kill someone then you shouldn't be like this! In fact, you should hate me!"

"No, that's wrong!" Naegi pulls away from the embrace and puts both of his hands on her shoulders. He stares into her eyes with a fierce determination. "I shouldn't hate you! You're my friend! I want to help you, Maizono. I don't care if you were going to frame me or not. I know that you don't really want to kill anyone Maizono. You were just backed into a corner."

Guilt starts to slowly crush Maizono. Had she really been planning to kill someone and then frame this innocent boy?

_I'm disgusting._

"No, I used you. I didn't even hesitate to frame you for… for a murder." Maizono shakes her head. "You were… just a tool."

"If I was really just a tool, then why didn't you just aim to kill me instead of Kuwata? I would have been a much easier target, don't you think?"

Maizono gasps.

"Maizono, you're my friend. I only wish the best for you. That's why I promise that we will all get out of this mess together!"

That was it. She couldn't take it anymore. Like a broken dam, tears start pouring out of her eyes. Putting her hands up to her face, she starts sobbing uncontrollably, body trembling with grief and guilt. She felt as if her heart was being torn into two. She was willing to _kill _an innocent person and then frame Naegi. Naegi, the boy who she actually wanted to become friends with. Naegi, the boy who saved the crane from the school pool. She was about to throw his life away, and for what? For her dream of becoming an idol. It was loathsome.

Somehow, he had known about her plan. Even so… he had taken the time to talk to her. Instead of telling the others, he had gone to her personally and talked her out of it. Naegi was a saint in her eyes.

Once again, Naegi softly hugs Maizono and rubs her back in an attempt to comfort her. Maizono wraps her arms around Naegi and buries her face into his hoodie, still snivelling. He felt so warm, so _solid_. He was like a beacon of hope in the form of a high schooler.

Finally, after a few minutes, Maizono pulls away from Naegi and looks down at the ground. "Naegi… I know that I shouldn't be asking this, especially after what I had planned to do, but… can I stay in your room? I don't care if I need to sleep on the floor. Please Naegi, just for tonight."

Naegi smiles and nods. "Why don't we switch rooms then? That was kind of what you were planning to do anyway, right?"

Maizono shakes her head firmly. "I just… w-want to stay with you."

"Ah…" Naegi scratches his chin, blushing slightly. "W-Well in that case, I guess that's fine… but you don't need to sleep on the floor. You can have the bed for yourself."

Maizono laughs humorlessly. Naegi was _way _too nice for his own good. She was just about to murder someone - she didn't deserve a bed, or even a floor. She deserved to be sleeping in a pile of garbage. "No. Naegi, I'm going to sleep on the floor whether you like it or not. I wouldn't even dream of taking the bed."

Naegi flinches, taken aback by her sudden determination.

"I insist. Really."

Sighing, Naegi relculantly nods. "If you're really sure…"

"I am."

"Then I'll sleep on the floor too."

Maizono throws her hands up in frustration. At the same time, a cold dagger stabs into her heart. She knows that he didn't mean it, but all he was doing was making her feel worse.. Without a doubt, Naegi was the nicest person that she had ever met. Was she really about to frame him for a murder?

"Fine." Maizono says. Rubbing the last of her tears off of her face, she manages a weak smile. "Thank you, Naegi. Good night."

"Good night... Maizono."


	3. Act 1, Chapter 2

_*ding dong, bing bong*_

"Good morning everyone! It is now 7 a.m and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beautiful day!" Monokuma raises his arm enthusiastically, a martini in hand.

"Ugh." Naegi grunts as he pulls himself up. He had convinced Maizono to not kill anyone this time around so there shouldn't be a dead body to be discovered today. Maybe going back here was a second chance to save all of his friends?

_Yes. That's going to be my goal. I will save everyone!_

"Ah, morning already…" Maizono yawns sleepily before standing up from the floor. "Good morning Naegi."

"Good morning. Are you feeling better?"

Maizono nods and gives him a bright smile. But though she seemed happy, Naegi could tell that her smile was a bit forced. Her mouth was tight lipped and dark circles were visible under her eyes. It looked as if she hadn't slept at all last night.

"Do you want to walk to the cafeteria today?" Maizono asks.

"Sure!"

_She's alive. Now, to make sure that everyone else stays alive. After Maizono, Junko killed her sister… Ikusaba._

As Naegi walks to the dining hall with Maizono, he sighs as he realizes the large task ahead of him. Mukuro Ikusaba was the Ultimate Despair. He had never held a 'real' conversation with her, so he had no idea what she would be like. Apparently, they were classmates before all of this happened but Naegi's (and everyone else's) memories of her were erased. But if she was an Ultimate Despair, then she might be a little tough to deal with.

_Despair or not, I will save her. Everyone else too. This is my second chance!_

* * *

"S-So to make sure I understand… if we get the culprit right, then only they die. But if we get it wrong… all the rest of us get executed?" Kiyotaka stammers.

"Yep! Remember this when the first murder inevitably happens!" Monokuma guffaws, prancing around on top of a table. Despite there not being a murder this time around, Monokuma was still explaining things again. So if things kept consistent, Ikusaba will be tricked and killed by the real Junko.

Ikusaba won't die this time though. Not on Naegi's watch.

"W-Wait, hold on a second!" Right on schedule, Ikusaba starts to protest against Monokuma. "You're freaking insane, you know that?"

"Hm?" Monokuma tilts his head quizzically.

"What the hell is a class trial? I want nothing to do with that!"

"Why not?"

"What do you mean why not?! Why would I want to try and figure out a murderer with my own life on the line?"

"What?! Are you saying that you're gonna rebel against the headmaster? Only punishment awaits such blasphemy!"

As the two argue, they start inching closer to each other. Unbeknownst to them, Naegi was also approaching Ikusaba. No one noticed this as everyone was too busy observing the argument unfolding in front of them.

"What? Punishment?"

"I might… I dunno, throw you in a deep, dark scary prison or something!"

"Shut the hell up! Say whatever you want, I'm not gonna participate in your fucked up game!"

"Don't be so selfish!"

"You're the selfish one! Kill whoever you want, I won't be a part of this!"

Monokuma extends some sharp claws from his paws and takes a menacing pose. Well, it would be menacing if the robot bear wasn't so tiny.

"I won't give in to such rebellion! It's my style to stick it out and resist till the very end! If you really wanna get out of here… You'll have to go through me first!" Monokuma says with a dramatic flair.

He charges at Ikusaba, one eye glowing red.

But then…

_*Smash*_

"Uwahhh!"

Ikusaba takes a step forward and stomps on Monokuma, effectively trapped him beneath her boot. Monokuma flails about and hits Ikusaba's boot, but no matter how he struggled it seemed like he was truly stuck.

"Enjoying yourself now?" Ikusaba smirks with a look of satisfaction on her face.

"No, but I will soon!"

"Huh?"

"Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is not allowed." Monokuma booms, body strangely still. "You've violated a school regulation. I invoke the mighty summon spell! Help! To me, godly spear Gungnir!"

_Now!_

Right as Monokuma finishes his sentence, Naegi rushes forwards and shoves Ikusaba as hard as he could. She ends up stumbling several feet forwards, almost falling down.

"Hey! What's the big…" Ikusaba's protest dies in her throat as she sees what she had just been spared from. Dozens of spears that were reaching up from the floor stabbed into the empty air that Ikusaba had just been standing in seconds ago. The razor-sharp tips of each spear glinted murderously in the light. If Naegi was even a little bit late with his push, she most definitely would have been dead.

"Run, Iku - I mean, Junko!" Naegi shouts at her. "He might try to kill you again!"

Ikusaba doesn't move however, instead opting to just stand there, glued to the ground. For once in her life, her mind moved sluggishly, not able to process what just happened. Her eyes told her what they saw, but her brain refused to process it.

_What…? How? What just happened?_

"You!" Monokuma turns his attention to Naegi, steam pouring out of his ears. His face seemed as red as a beet. "How dare you interfere with a punishment! Why, just for that, I might execute you instead!"

"No." Kirigiri says in a quiet yet commanding voice. Every eye turns to her as she shakes her head firmly. "No where in the rules does it say that Naegi can be punished for interference with an execution. Punishing him would break your rules."

"Grrr..." Monokuma stares at both Kirigiri and Naegi with malice. For a second, it seemed as if Monokuma would end up killing Naegi anyway. But then, unexpectedly…

"Puhuhuhuhuhu… Sure, sure!" This may be more interesting anyway! I won't even finish off 'Junko' over here!" Monokuma waddles towards the exit, still giggling to himself. "Next time though, I will DEFINITELY kill the rule breaker! So stay on your toes!"

And with that, Monokuma leaves. As he does, Ikusaba's knees finally betray her and she ends up stumbling down onto the ground, her mind still reeling over what just happened.

…

"Naegi. Care to explain?" Togami asks, breaking the tense silence.

"Huh?"

"How did you know to push Junko away? I saw you moving closer to her even before she attacked Monokuma. You clearly knew what was going to happen." Togami glares at Naegi suspiciously.

"I… uh, gut feeling?" Naegi offers weakly.

"Gut feeling? Of course a plebian like you would try a worthless excuse like that. What kind of idiot do you take me for? Do you honestly th-"

"Shut up!" Maizono snaps, shooting a withering glare at Togami. "Naegi just saved someone's life! That's better than anything you've ever done in your life! Stop pushing him around you jerk!"

"Please." Togami rolls his eyes. "Naegi here knows something we don't, that much is obvious."

"So what? He still saved Junko's life! It's not like Naegi did anything wrong!" Maizono argues.

Togami scowls. "How are you so sure that it's Junko that Naegi really saved?"

"Huh?"

All of the students looked at Togami, confused. All of the students that is, besides Naegi, Kirigiri, and Ikusaba herself.

"Don't tell me that you all missed the sarcastic tone that bear used when saying Junko's name? You must be either deaf or a complete idiot to not get the hint. Not only is Naegi suspicious, but Junko is as well."

"Monokuma was probably just trying to mess with us. That's something he would do, right?" Asahina comments.

"Guys, can we give Junko some time to recover? I'm sure that she can explain after she does." Naegi walks over to Ikusaba who was still sitting on the ground and offers her his hand.

"Fine." Togami sneers and turns away to walk out of the gym. "But I expect a full explanation."

"M-Master! Wait for me!" Fukawa quickly runs to catch up to Togami.

Ikusaba stares at Naegi's outstretched hand as if unsure what to do. After some time though, she finally decides to take it.

"... Thanks. For saving me too."

"No problem!" Naegi flashes his signature smile.

"..." Blushing slightly, Ikusaba quickly lets go of his hand. For the whole time that Ikusaba had been attending Hope's Peak, there were really only 2 people that she had cared about - Her little sister Junko, and Naegi, her classmate.

Makoto Naegi, the Ultimate Lucky Student. The boy who smiled at her. For some reason, whenever she was around Naegi, her heart started beating faster and she ends up stumbling over her own words. His smile, filled to the brim with hope, always made her feel warm inside.

Junko had always called her a disappointment of a sister. She always took every opportunity to verbally abuse her in some way. Despite this, Ikusaba remained loyal to her - she knew that deep down, Junko really loved Ikusaba. Surely Junko just wanted Ikusaba to feel the same despair that she had always been obsessed about. Junko just wanted the best for both of them. They would always stick together, no matter what.

At least, she always thought that they would stick together.

_Junko betrayed me… But Naegi saved me._

_What do I do?_

* * *

_Mukuro Ikusaba was one half of the Ultimate Despair - the brawns of the group. Obviously her sister, Junko Enoshima, made up the brains of the group. Together, with Junko's analytical prowess and Ikusaba's Ultimate Soldier talents, they made a formidable team. The twin sisters - The Ultimate Despairs. Despite all of this, despair was never the first thing on Ikusaba's mind. While she did feel despair from doing horrible acts and watching the world burn, it never made her feel as good as how Junko felt._

_She was not doing all of this for despair - she was doing all of this for Junko._

_Junko, her beloved little sister. Ikusaba felt that Junko was the only one in the world who understood and loved her and in turn, Ikusaba felt as if she were the only one to understand and love Junko. Whenever Junko gave her even the slightest bit of attention, she was on cloud 9._

_Everyone else saw Ikusaba as a tool, just waiting to be used. That is what comes with being the Ultimate Soldier after all - Countless organizations and groups sought her talents. She was always wanted for some sort of job. _

_Those who did not see Ikusaba as a tool simply saw her as a threat instead. They shied away from her, always looking uncomfortable when Ikusaba was anywhere near them. She was treated as if she were the Ultimate Murderous Fiend rather than the Ultimate Soldier._

_For her whole life, she was an outcast. The only person she could talk to was her own despair loving sister, Junko Enoshima._

_Until she met Makoto Naegi, that is._

_It was during the first week of Hope's Peak Academy._

"_You're Ikusaba… right? The Ultimate Soldier." Naegi had been exchanging introductions with his classmates. "Junko mentioned that you're her sister."_

"_Mukuro Ikusaba, Ultimate Soldier." Ikusaba confirms with a nod of her head as she introduces herself in her usual listless tone. She didn't think that introductions were necessary. Everyone was just going to ignore her again anyway._

"_I'm Makoto Naegi, the Ultimate Lucky Student."_

_Ikusaba gasps as Naegi suddenly delivers a shining grin to the soldier. This was the first time that someone had genuinely smiled at her. Usually, she only sees smiles that are either polite or nervous._

"_I hope we can get along!"_

_For a moment, Ikusaba didn't know what to say. None of the training she had taken could have prepared her for this._

"_... T-Thanks, I… hope we can get along too." Ikusaba stammers with a flushed face._

* * *

"You're Ikusaba… right? The Ultimate Soldier."

As soon as everyone else dispersed, Naegi dragged Ikusaba to his room so that they could talk privately. When Naegi asked this, Ikusaba was instantly put on guard. If he had known that Ikusaba even existed, then his memory was probably not completely erased. This could pose problems to the Killing Game.

_I should report this to Junko as soon as…_

Then, Ikusaba remembered that Junko just tried to kill her.

… _Maybe I should hear him out._

"How did you know?" Ikusaba sighs and took her giant blonde wig off. Beneath it, a clean bobbed haircut was revealed.

Naegi laughs awkwardly and scratches his chin. "Um, I don't think you would believe me if I told you."

Faster than anyone could even blink, Ikusaba takes out a combat knife and holds it to Naegi's neck.

"Tell me. How did you know?" Ikusaba says in a dangerously quiet voice. Of course, Ikusaba didn't intend to hurt him, but she really wanted to know about how he knew about Junko's plans. On top of apparently avoiding the memory erasure, he had known enough to save her life.

"Ok, ok!" Naegi stammers, clearly flustered. "Can you… erm, put the knife away first?"

".. Fine."

Naegi lets out a breath of relief and sits down on his bed. "Long story short… I think I time traveled."

…

"This isn't the time for jokes." Ikusaba glares at him, hand inching back to her knife.

"No! It's not a joke! I swear it's the truth."

…

Ikusaba sighs and sits down next to Naegi, shifting the bed down. "Prove it then."

"How?"

"Tell me something that will happen in the future."

_Something that will happen in the future?_

What would happen in the future anyway? Now that Ikusaba and Maizono are alive, the future would have been heavily changed at this point. There aren't many things that are guaranteed/

"Well, I'm not sure if this will happen but… Sakura Oogami will be forced to become a mole for Monokuma."

Ikusaba raises a brow. "You aren't sure?"

"Well I changed the future by preventing the deaths of you and Maizono. That could mean that the stuff I saw happen won't happen at all, right?"

"You saved Maizono?" This was news to Ikusaba. Was a murder supposed to happen recently?

"Before I time traveled, she was going to attempt to murder Leon. But it would have gone wrong had she would end up murdered instead. Thankfully, I manage to convince her to not resort to murder this time around.

Ikusaba shakes her head in disbelief. "Time travel? That's completely absurd… though I suppose there aren't many other plausible explanations on how you knew about Junko's plan."

With that said, Ikusaba stands up and makes her way to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to think up of an excuse. You _did _promise that I would explain everything to the others, after all."

"Oh, right." Naegi grins sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

Slamming the door shut, Ikusaba leaves without a response.

* * *

"You have had plenty of time to recover. Care to explain what happened? The truth, if you will." Togami readjusts his glasses as he glares coldly at Ikusaba.

Ikusaba had decided that the best course of action was to build a small lie on top of a partial truth. She couldn't think of many plausible lies that could explain how Naegi knew to push her out of the way. Obviously, she wouldn't be able to explain time travel to a skeptic like Togami. Not just Togami either - she doubted that _anyone _would believe her.

"My real name is Mukuro Ikusaba. I… was an acquaintance to the mastermind, the one who trapped all of you in here.

"You're saying that you're one of the people who forced us all into this?" Kuwata steps forward. "Then let us out of here already!"

"Only the mastermind has the remote to open the front door."

"My, what a convenient excuse." Celeste holds her hand to her mouth as she smiles to herself. Her words were suspicious, but as far as Celeste knew, Ikusaba wasn't lying. She was the Queen of Liars, one who could read other people very well. Unless Ikusaba was extremely good at lying (which is entirely possible), then the mastermind probably was the only one with the remote.

"Man, you guys know that none of this was real in the first place right?" Hagakure laughs loudly, ignoring the pointed looks of everyone else around him. "I mean, those spears that shot out of the floor were probably made out of plastic or something!"

"Fucking idiot…" Owada cracks his knuckles menacingly, causing Hagakure to involuntarily whimper.

"Here's the obvious question." Celeste says. "Who's the mastermind?"

"I'm pretty sure that Monokuma wouldn't let me tell you."

As if Monokuma had been waiting for the perfect moment, a notification suddenly pops up from the student E-Handbooks, causing several beeping noises to pop up.

Naegi glances down and reads the new rule.

_Mukuro Ikusaba is not allowed to divulge confidential matters about the Killing Game._

"Oh, that's a load of bullshit!" Owada shouts

Togami clears his throat. "Assuming that you aren't lying, this would mean that Naegi is a third accomplice, correct?"

"Wh-What?" Naegi stammers.

"No. Naegi had nothing to do with this." Ikusaba says with certainty.

"Oh?"

Now, the lie comes in. Ikusaba had an excellent poker face. In fact, it was one that may rival the masks of Kyoko and Celeste. She had stood against entire armies by herself with a straight face. Surely she would be able to tell a small lie to a couple of teenagers… even if one of them was the Queen of Lies.

"Naegi only knew to push me out of the way because I told him too. I knew that the mastermind was planning to backstab me when I was told to stomp on Monokuma in that specific spot."

"You knew that you were going to be betrayed but you went along with it anyway?" Kirigiri stares into Ikusaba's eyes, as if she was challenging her.

"I didn't want to believe that the mastermind would betray me. Even now, I still don't want to believe it. I told Naegi to push me anyway though." Ikusaba shrugs her shoulders. "Just in case."

"Is this true?" The detective shifts her attention to Naegi.

"Uh, yeah!" Naegi laughs nervously. "It's true."

Inwardly, Ikusaba curses him for being so obvious. She may be able to lie decently but he was always terrible at telling them. She notices that several students, including Kirigiri stare at him with suspicion.

"Hmmm. Well if Mr. Naegi insists, then I suppose that Ikusaba is being truthful!" Yamada puffs out his chest obliviously. "I will place my full trust in him!"

"Idiot." Togami scoffs. "If he's telling the truth then he probably wouldn't be sweating literal bullets right now."

That was true. Naegi was fidgeting around, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

"I would rather trust in Naegi then someone like Togami anyway." Asahina says.

"Yeah dude! Naegs is way nicer than Toges."

"From what I've seen, Naegi is an upstanding student!"

"If Asahina trusts in him, then I see no reason for doubt."

Despite Naegi's horrible acting, most of her classmates decided to place their trust in him anyway. Even the smarter ones like Kirigiri and Celeste didn't raise any objections, though there was no doubt in Ikusaba's mind that they knew that he was lying.

"Hmph. Don't blame me when you idiots get murdered." With that said, Togami sulks away from the group, scowling to himself.

"M-Master is right!" Fukawa grumbles, stalking after Togami. "I bet that either N-Naegi or I-Ikusaba will be the next killer!"

"Sheesh. That chick's got serious issues." Owada shakes his head slowly. "Just what does she see in that asshole?"

"Um… H-Hey, Ikusaba?" Unexpectedly it was Fujisaki who spoke up. "S-So, if you aren't Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Fashionista… then what _is _your talent?"

Mukuro glances over at Naegi hesitantly. She was already distrusted by most of the people here. Not that she could blame them - She had openly admitted to work for the mastermind. Revealing that she was also a killer would only cast even more suspicion on her. But refusing to tell her talent, or lying about it might be even worse.

"I think you should tell them." Naegi says.

_Well, if Naegi says it's okay then..._

…

"I'm the Ultimate Soldier." Ikusaba says simply.


	4. Act 1, Chapter 3

"Hey hey hey! I've noticed that there is an extreme lack of KILLING so far! I guess your closest friends and family aren't as important as the life of some strangers, huh? I guess I should prepare the next motive for you ungrateful kids! Report to the gymnasium, pronto!"

"Aw man, what now? Those videos were bad enough…" Kuwata complains.

Maizono involuntarily shivers as she remembers the motive tapes that almost drove her to murder. If it weren't for Naegi, then she would be a killer right now. To make things worse, if she had gotten away with it then the rest of the class would have been executed.

"Are you okay?" Naegi asks worriedly.

"... I'm fine."

"My fortieth sense is telling me that this is definitely bad news! But we have no choice, do we?" Yamada growls to himself as he clenches his fist.

"Fortieth?" Asahina shakes her head. "There's no way that you have forty senses! Humans are supposed to only have five!"

"My true power completely transcends the human norm!"

"Whatever the dumb bear throws at us, we can handle it." Owada claims proudly. He and Ishimaru were already making their way towards the gym with confident looks on their faces. "Right bro?"

"That is correct, bro! Our bro bond is unbreakable!" Ishimaru heartily agrees.

"You know dudes, it's kind of scary how much they get along now." Hagakure lets out a nervous chuckle. "I mean, they used to really hate each other!"

"Tell me about it." Naegi says. For whatever reason, he hadn't been roped into their contest as a witness this time around so he didn't actually see what happened to them. But if things remained consistent, then they probably did their standoff in the spa room and somehow bonded through it.

"We can discuss that later. For now, we should hurry to the gym before Monokuma gets impatient." Ogami's low voice echoes throughout the cafeteria.

"I must wonder what the new motive must be." Celeste muses to herself. "Monokuma has proven to be quite resourceful so far… One could only imagine how far his influence runs if he was able to create the video tapes."

Naegi bites his lip and looks at the floor. He knew perfectly well what the next motive was going to be - secrets. He still doesn't know how Monokuma was able to dig all of these up, but he wasn't sure if he_ wanted _to know. Fujisaki was going to be the next victim… he gets killed by Owada in a fit of rage.

_Trying to stop an angry Owada… I'm definitely not looking forward to this_

* * *

"Before I get started, I would like to inform you all that the second floor is opened up!" Monokuma says. "It's the second motive and all, so I decided to be a generous headmaster to you ungrateful kids!"

"Ooh! Really?" Hagakure says, rubbing his hands together. "Sweet, we might find a way out of this place!"

"I'm so great, aren't I? You kids have fun exploring after this!" Clearing his throat, Monokuma jumps up on his podium and starts twirling around. "Anyway, I did a little investigating of my own and I dug up some of your darkest secrets!"

"S-Secrets?" Fukawa stammers.

"Yes, secrets! Embarrassing memories, weird fetishes, and more are all contained in the envelopes I have right here!" Monokuma says, waving around several manilla envelopes. "I'm going to hand them out now, so take a peek! Puhuhuhu!"

Laughing maniacally, Monokuma carelessly tosses a bunch of envelopes into the air. As it falls, Naegi quickly snatches the envelope with his name written on it. Sure enough, _Makoto Naegi wet the bed until he was in the 5th grade _was written on there.

Even though he already knew that was going to be his secret, a blush still manages to make its way onto his face.

"How'd you find out about this?!"

"What the heck?"

"You've got to be kidding me."

Various exclamations arose from the students as they read their deepest, darkest secrets.

"You have 24 hours! If someone doesn't get killed within that time frame, then all of your deepest, darkest, most embarassingest secrets will be exposed to the world! Maybe I'll blast these secrets on loudspeakers in a public street! Puhuhuhuhuhu!" Monokuma guffaws as he rubs his paws together in glee.

"..." Owada doesn't say anything, but Naegi notices that his face was turning unnaturally blue. He kept staring at his envelope, muttering something under his breath as sweat dripped down his forehead.

"No one would murder over something like this! Your plan is doomed to fail Monokuma! In fact, I suggest that we all lay out our secrest right now! I'll even start us off!" Ishimaru quickly straightens up and clears his throat.

"MY SECRET IS THA-"

"Oh, shut up you imbecile." Togami rolls his eyes as he interrupts Ishimaru. "Do you really think that I would tell any of you plebeians my secret?"

Ishimaru takes a step back as his face contorts into shock. "W-What?"

Ikusaba slowly nods her head. She had kept mostly silent, but she had crumpled her envelope into a ball, crushing it in her hand. "I wouldn't tell my secret to anyone… ever."

"I concur." Celeste adds. "I'm afraid that telling this secret to anyone would be impossible."

"Well, it's just human nature to wanna hear it when you say it's impossible! Let's hear it!" Yamada says as he inches closer to Celeste. For some reason, he was breathing heavily and his glasses were fogged up.

"No."

"Come on, you know you wanna say it!"

"No."

Salivating, Yamada comes even closer to Celeste.

"Cmon…"

"No."

"cmoncmoncmoncmon"

"I SAID NO ALREADY YOU BAG OF LARD!" Celeste snarls, pointing her metal finger at Yamada. In less than a second, her calm expression had contorted into one of disgust and rage. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"EEEEK!" The otaku hastily retreats, squealing in terror.

"W-Well, that's okay then. Either way, if it's just a few secrets, I'm sure that nobody would kill anybody over it." Ishimaru says with a clear look of disappointment in his face.

_*ding dong bing bong* _

"Ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then… sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight!"

"Night already, huh?" Hagakure yawns. Despite the motive, he didn't seem all too worried about his secret. "Alright, I'll just call it a day then."

"Same here." Maizono walks off to the exit, grabbing Naegi on her way. "Let's go, Naegi!"

"H-Huh?" Naegi stammers as he gets dragged by Maizono.

"Oh? Mr. Naegi being dragged off by the teen idol? I wonder what kind of naughty things they're planning to do?"

"You're weird dude…"

Maizono practically runs to the dorm rooms, not once looking behind her. As soon as they reach her dorm room, Maizono lets go of Naegi and quickly shoves her envelope into Naegi's hands. Her face was pale and her hands were trembling slightly. "Take it. I didn't open it."

"Huh? Why not?" Naegi asks.

"Because I don't want to be overcome by the urge to _murder _anyone!" Maizono snaps.

…

"Sorry… I'm just a bit flustered. But you really are the only one I can trust right now, so please just take it. Read it, burn it, do whatever you want. I don't really care what happens to my secret." Before Naegi could respond, Maizono swiftly runs into her room and slams the door shut.

"Maizono…" Naegi stands in front of her room for a few seconds before shaking his head and going into his dorm. As he closes the door, he stares at Maizono's envelope.

_Should I read it? _

In the end, curiosity won over caution.

…

_Sayaka Maizono caused the suicide of a rival pop star. _

* * *

Makoto Naegi was currently eavesdropping. Holding his breath, he peeks into the boys changing room from the lockers. Despite the fact that no one else was around, Naegi still felt kind of embarrassed, as if he was doing something perverted.

"S-Seriously? Jesus." Owada's voice carries itself from the boys changing room to the lockers.

"Y-Yeah… Sorry for lying to you." That was Fujisaki. His tiny voice was barely audible, even with the door slightly open.

"But, why now? Why are you telling me this all of the sudden?"

"Huh?"

"Cuz, like you kept this a secret all this time, right? If anyone found out…"

"... I want to change. I wrapped myself in lies. I'm weak. I want to destroy that version of me forever!" Fujisaki's voice starts picking up in volume as she explains her reasoning. "I need to change! You're so strong that Monokuma's motive couldn't possibly hurt you, right?"

Naegi cringes as he hears this. That must have been what set Owada off. His secret was about the accidental death of his brother… something like that would have hurt anyone, no matter how tough they were.

"That's why…"

"So what, you're saying I should just say it?"

Naegi's heart starts beating faster and faster as Owada's tone drops dangerously low.

"Huh?"

"You're saying that if I really am strong, I should tell everyone? I'm strong? Are you fucking with me right now?!"

"I'm not making fun of you Mondo… Y-You really are strong."

"What did he want me to do? What was I supposed to do?" Mondo rants. "Was I supposed to just sit back, let me secret get revealed and ruin everythi-"

This was it. Naegi couldn't let things get out of hand. Taking a deep breath, Naegi barges into the charging room.

"Owada!"

"What the?" Owada spins around in shock.

"Ah! N-Naegi!" Fujisaki squeaks.

"What the hell are you-"

"Remember Daiya! Would he have wanted you to act like this? Don't pretend like his death was a murder! He wouldn't want you wallowing in self pity all the time! You are strong, Mondo Owada! Don't let your emotions overpower you like this!"

"D-Daiya…? What… What the hell do you know about what he would have wanted?" Owada growls, face completely red. He steps towards Naegi, cracking his knuckles.

Naegi shakes his head. "I was not as close to him as you are. Clear your head and ask yourself. Ask yourself about what he would have wanted… would he want you to let his death hang above you like a cloud for the rest of your life?"

"... What Daiya would have wanted?" Owada echoes.

...

"Tch. Fujisaki, I'll… talk to you tomorrow, okay?" Owada shuffles out of the changing room with a scowl on his face.

_How the hell did he even know about Daiya? Whatever... _

Naegi sighs in relief as all of the tension leaks out of him. He was afraid that Owada might have ended up killing two people this time around… thankfully, he seemed to have gotten through to him. Turning around, Naegi glances at Fujisaki who was gaping at him. "Ah, Fujisaki… are you okay?"

Upon hearing his name, Fujisaki tenses up.

"Um… Naegi… About all of this, I-"

To Fujisaki's shock, Naegi shakes his head. "You don't need to say anything. See you later, Fujisaki."

With a reassuring smile, Naegi leaves the changing room as well, leaving Fujisaki to herself.

"Owada…"

* * *

"Damn, damn, damn, damn! Damn it all!" Monokuma stomps on the floor several times as he spews obscenities, ignoring the astonishment prevalent on everyone's face. "Even when I threaten you people with secrets, no murders happen?! Gah, you kids are insufferable!"

"Hah!" Ishimaru raises his hands with a proud look on his face. "I told you! We won't be killing anyone, Monokuma!"

"Shut up you brat!" Monokuma snarls. "Fine then! I'll just take pleasure in revealing your dark secrets!

At the mention of this, everyone tenses up. Here was the moment that they've been dreading. While most of them were nervous about what was about to happen, no one could deny feeling morbid curiosity about hearing everyone's secrets. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

"First up…" Monokuma says, taking out a pair of glasses. He had several notecards in his paws. Squinting down at them, he suddenly grins delightfully. "Makoto Naegi!"

"Great…" Naegi groans.

"You know, Naegi is so innocent looking. He probably doesn't even have a dark secret!" Asahina grins brightly at Naegi. "I mean, he's like a puppy!"

"A p-puppy?!" Naegi says incredulously.

Maizono giggles. "That's something I can agree on."

"Well on the flip side, his innocence could just be an act, no?" Celeste says, putting her hands to her chin. "Perhaps he leads a double life and harbors extremely dark secrets."

"Enough jabbering!" Monokuma snaps. "Anyway... DRDRDRDRDRDRDRDRDRDR…"

"Is he seriously making a drum roll noise?" Kuwata scratches his head.

"Makoto Naegi wet the bed until he was in the 5th grade!"

…

Naegi's face burns up as he looks down at the floor, trying to ignore the stares of everyone around him. Even if it wasn't a dark secret or anything, it was still pretty embarrassing. He tries to resist the urge to scratch his head as his scalp starts prickling.

"Seriously?" Hagakure chuckles to himself. "That's hilarious!"

Everyone nods in agreement, laughing to themselves.

"H-Hey!" Naegi protests, fighting to keep his embarrassment to a minimum. "It's not like I'm still doing it now or anything! I was just a kid back then you know?"

"It's rather impressive that this was the most Monokuma could dig up though." Kirigiri says with a hint of a smile on her face.

"Yeah, gotta admit… Naegi's pure." Kuwata says.

"Bleh! You guys are gonna make me vomit here!" Monokuma shouts. "So what if he's pure?! He's the protagonist! Naegi was just designed that way, you know?! It's not like anything he does is even of his own free will anyway!"

Naegi frowns. "What do you-"

"Anyway!" Monokuma interrupts. "Next up, Kyoko Kirigiri!"

Everyone quickly went silent. What kind of secret could she hold? No one even knew her talent or anything about her past… She mainly kept to herself for the entire killing game, much like Togami.

"Kirigiri over here has a serious case of amnesia!"

"Huh? Amnesia?" Asahina glances at Kirigiri.

"... It's true." Kirigiri concedes. "I don't even remember my talent."

"Dang, that must be rough! If you want though, I could use my clairvoyant powers to uncover the truth! All it will cost you is a measly 95,000 yen!"

"I'll pass." Kirigiri deadpans.

"Dang…" Hagakure mutters to himself in a downcast expression.

"Shut up, all of you! Next, we have Kiyotaka Ishimaru!" His grandfather, Toranosuke, was a Prime Minister who got caught in a bunch of scandals and controversies! It completely trashed his family's reputation! Oh, the shame!"

"Woah, really? I think I've actually heard about that before!" Yamada comments.

"Bro…" Owada stares at Ishimaru worriedly.

"Fret not! I will not let such frivolous matters distract me!" Ishimaru says reassuringly.

"Chihiro Fujisaki is a male." Monokuma says monotonously. "Alright, now Yasuhiro Haga-"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Yamada screeches. His face goes totally pale as he points a shaking finger at Fujisaki.

"Hey fatty! Don't interrupt me here!" Monokuma glares at Yamada, red eye glowing evilly.

"Impossible!"

"Is she… he really a boy?"

"No way!"

Unsurprisingly, everyone was shocked at this, save for Owada and Naegi. Even Kirigiri and Togami showed some surprise at this.

"I-It's true…" Fujisaki confirms, snuffling. "I was always bullied for being a weak person… people always said that I should be strong since I'm male. So I just decided to dress as a girl so that no one could make fun of me."

"Fujisaki…" Owada gives the programmer a sympathetic look.

"Well, as I was saying before someone INTERRUPTED me…" Monokuma continues. "Yasuhiro Hagakure is in _serious _debt with the Yakuza!"

"Heh, yeah…" Hagakure laughs awkwardly.

"Hmph. Of course an idiot like you would end up like that." Togami smirks and pushes his glasses up.

"H-Hey! I'm not an idiot!" Hagakure says angrily. "Don't call me that!"

"How much in debt?" Kuwata asks curiously.

"Oh, y'know… like 8 million yen."

"WHAT?!"

"Moving on… Toko Fukawa is Genocider Shou!"

"EEEEEK!" Fukawa screeches and buries her head in her arms. She thought that everyone already despised her… the fact that she was a serial killer would probably only make her be hated even more. She wouldn't be surprised if the entire group just killed her right then and there.

"Or was it Genocider Syo… Genocider Jack?" Monokuma looks at the floor and scratches his head.

"Huh? Doesn't she pass out at the sight of blood or something? How could a chick like her be a serial killer like Shou?" Owada questions.

"Perhaps it's an act?" Ogami suggests.

"Genocider Jill maybe?"

"Hmph. I can say with confidence that Fukawa really is Shou. Fukawa herself had informed me and provided sufficient evidence." Togami says. "She has a split personality."

"M-My white knight!"

"I'm not gonna even ask what this proof was." Kuwata shakes his head.

"Enough jabbering! Mondo Owada caused the death of his brother!"

"W-What? Bro?" Ishimaru snaps his gaze from Monokuma to Owada. "That's a lie, right?"

"Owada...?" Fujisaki gapes at the biker.

"It… was an accident!" Owada grits his teeth and shoots a murderous glare at Monokuma. "It's not like I killed him or anything!"

"Oh puh-lease! No excuses!"

"So we have more than one murderer in our group. It's a wonder that no one has been murdered yet." Togami smirks.

"Shut up, asshole!" Owada roars, cracking his knuckles.

"Next up… Hifumi Yamada once plagiarized someone else's fanfiction!"

In a knee jerk reaction, Yamada collapses onto the floor and bangs his fists. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'M SO ASHAMED! PLEASE FORGIVE MEEEEEEEEE!" Yamada screams, tears pouring down his face.

"Well… it isn't the worst thing in the world, is it?" Asahina asks tentatively.

"N-No! It most definitely is the worst thing in the world! If this gets out, my whole reputation will be trashed!" Yamada moans dramatically. "If you plagiarize someone, then everyone turns against you! No one will buy my doujinshi anymore! IT'S ALL OVER!"

"Ahem… Celestia Ludenberg's real name is Taeko Yasuhiro!"

"..." At this, Celeste flinches almost imperceptibly.

"Huh?" Hagakure scratches his chin. "Yasuhiro?"

"Yes… That's my true, boring name. I ask that you all keep calling me Celeste. This won't be a problem… right?" Celeste smiles sweetly, but everyone couldn't help but notice a dark aura coming from her. Something about her tone just seemed to cause unease.

"Aoi Asahina is insecure about her femininity!"

"Eep!" Asahina blushes.

"Hina… Is this true?" Ogami stares worriedly at her.

"Wh-What?! How could someone with _that _body be insecure?" Fukawa growls and points at Asahina. "I b-bet that you get hundreds of job offers from strip…"

Her words quickly dry up as she notices Ogami glaring at her.

"It's just that… Most people tease me and say that I act like a boy, since I'm an athlete and what-not…"

"Do not worry, Hina. I will protect you from any insults." Ogami eyes the rest of the students with clear malice in her eyes.

"Won't hear a peep out of me!" Hagakure laughs sheepishly and backs up.

"Same here!" Kuwata says nervously.

"Oh, finally!" Monokuma exclaims. His glasses literally fly out of his face as his ever present grin somehow stretches even further. He raises a notecard in the air and jumps up. "This is the good stuff! Sayaka Maizono, the sweet idol that everyone adores, caused the suicide of a rival pop idol!"

At this, Maizono visibly flinches. Her face goes completely pale.

"S-Suicide?" Kuwata gapes at her, clearly dumbstruck.

"I… remember. I never… I never wanted anything like that to happen." Maizono takes a shuddering breath and lowers her head. "I didn't know, okay?"

"It's okay Maizono. You don't need to talk about it." Naegi says.

"N-No. I… I insulted her at every opportunity. I stomped on her hopes and dreams. She was a rising star, and even a fan of me! And yet I… said those things to her. I had no idea that being an idol meant so much to hear. If only I could go back and stop myself!" Maizono cries desperately. When she saw her suicide in the news and learned what her suicide note had said… she was completely devastated. The note hadn't mentioned her name, so Maizono wanted to turn herself in. She wanted to take responsibility… but her managers had forbid her from doing so. On top of that, they actually covered up Maizono's relationship with her. The guilt from that incident had never gone away.

"Maizono…" Asahina whispers, clearly horrified.

"W-Wow… To think that such a sweet looking girl could be so harsh!" Yamada exclaims, pushing up his glasses. "Perhaps Sayaka is a distant relative of Tae- I mean, Celeste?"

**"Shut it, Yamada!" **Both Asahina and Naegi shout at him at the same time, causing the otaku to cower in fear.

"AIEE! I'm sorry!"

"Ah, that felt good. Finally, some despair in here!" Monokuma giggles. "Anyway, Leon Kuwata is in a romantic relationship with his cousin!"

"Oh, come on…" Kuwata facepalms.

"Your cousin?" Naegi asks curiously.

"That's pretty gross dude." Hagakure shakes his head.

"It really isn't like that! She just comes off really strongly." Kuwata moans, covering his face.

"I mean, whatever floats your boat I guess." Owada shrugs, apparently not as bothered as everyone else.

"Ooh! We're down to the last three people! Ms. Ogre, Mr. Fancypants, and Ms. Rulebreaker!" Monokuma laughs heartily.

"Hey! Don't call her that!" Asahina protests furiously.

"Ms. Ogre - er, Sakura Ogami is a mole for the mastermind, a traitor! And by that, I of course mean that she's working for me!

"WHAT?! That's a lie! Right Sakura!?" Asahina objects and looks at Sakura hopefully.

"... No, it's true." Ogami admits with a pained look on her face. She had been dreading this moment ever since the 2nd motive was revealed. She knew that Monokuma would find some way to call her out on it. "But I'm not working for him anymore."

"What?!" Asahina yelps.

"No way… Ogami is a t-traitor?" Fujisaki gasps.

"Don't say that!" Asahina shouts. "She was probably forced to work for the mastermind!"

"... My family dojo was taken hostage. Originally, I was supposed to start the killing game by murdering one of you. However, when the time came, I refused to do so. So he told me that he would expose me to everyone if I didn't kill anyone by the time the first motive ran out." Ogami explains.

"I had my suspicions of a mole in our midst. I suppose this confirms it." Togami comments smugly. "A mole, an accomplice, a serial killer, and two indirect murderers… This is quite an intriguing lineup."

"Well, she didn't really do anything right? So is it really that big of a deal?" Naegi asks.

"She's a traitor. That in itself is inexcusable." Togami scoffs.

"Well I for one forgive her. She didn't have a choice after all." Naegi argues. "I mean if anything, the fact that Monokuma is revealing this means that Ogami really isn't working for Monokuma anymore."

"Yeah! Naegi is right!" Asahina smiles gratefully at Naegi.

"Idiots. It's like you're all asking to be killed."

"Don't get too smug! Byakuya Togami, you're up next!" Monokuma cackles gleefully as he watches Togami tense up.

"Togami is a bastard! An illegitimate child!"

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Hagakure asks, confused.

"It means that his parents weren't married when he was born." Kirigiri explains.

"I don't care about t-that!" Fukawa exclaims, drooling. "Bastard or n-not, Master Byakuya is my white knight!"

"It's just part of the process on selecting a heir to the Togami name." Togami says defensively.

"I mean, I don't think it's THAT bad… It just means that his daddy was probably a frisky one!" Yamada's glasses start to fog up as he wiggles his fingers in a creepy manner.

"Shut up you perverted, disgusting, dirty excuse for a human being. You are just plankton. No, actually you are worse. The billions of brainless plankton living in the sea are kings compared to you. You're just an idiotic pervert with no dignity. I think it would be better for everyone if you just ended up dead in a ditch somewhere, fucking plebian, scum of the earth. If I had the choice between solving world hunger and erasing your existence, then I would choose the second option with zero hesitation. The fact that you were allowed to live past the age of six proves that the world is a truly cruel place. I feel nothing but sympathy for your parents as they probably felt morbid disgust and disappointment the minute you were conceived. You aren't fit to lick the dirt off of the soles of my boot. In fact, you are so grossly negligent that I wouldn't let you lick my boots even if you paid me one trillion yen, you dumb reptile.

…

"Sorry…" Yamada seemed to have shrunk a thousand sizes as he slowly apologizes.

_Why is everyone so mean to me today…? _

"Jeez, who pissed in his cornflakes this morning? Whoo! That was one hell of an essay." Monokuma says as he fans himself with the last remaining note card. "Anyway, last but not least! Mukuro Ikusaba!"

Everyone turns their head at Ikusaba who was standing alone at a corner. She had not uttered a single word during the entire time that Monokuma had been telling secrets. Ikusaba looked unnaturally tense and was glaring at the floor.

"Hm, I wonder what an Ultimate Soldier would have for a secret?" Hagakure asks in a creepy tone. "Maybe it's her kill count! I bet it's in the thousands!"

"She seems quite nervous." Celeste points out. "It may be more personal."

"P-Personally, I think that it would be something about her relationship to the mastermind." Fujisaki comments.

"Huh?" Kuwata scratches his head. "But we already know she used to work for him!"

"Mukuro Ikusaba…" Monokuma says, rubbing his paws gleefully.

…

"Has a _HUGE _crush on Makoto Naegi!"

…

…

…

"Eh?" Naegi blinks.

"Oh my... Is Ikusaba a tsundere?" Yamada asks, seemingly having recovered from Togami's insults. "Beneath her cold exterior is a lovesick schoolgirl!"

"Ooooh! Ikusaba has a crush on Naegi? That's soooo cute!" Asahina gushes as she alternates glances between Naegi and Ikusaba.

"... I-If that's all, I'll be leaving." Ikusaba mumbles as she tries to fight off the blush on her face… to no avail.

"Haha!" Hagakure smacks Naegi on the back. "I never knew that you were a ladies man, Naegi!"

"N-No way that's true…" Naegi says. It had to be a lie, right? How could someone like Ikusaba have a crush on _him _of all people?

"Awwww, isn't that cute? Well those were all of the secrets! Class dismissed! Go gossip or do whatever it is you kids do." Monokuma snickers and turns around.

"Oh yeah, the third motive is coming up soon. As per usual, I have opened up the next floor. Have fun!"

And with that, Monokuma makes a swift exit.

* * *

Mukuro Ikusaba was furious. How could Junko do this to her?!

She wasn't even this mad when Junko had almost _killed _her. The comparison between humiliation and attempted murder wasn't even close, yet Ikusaba was more upset with the former.

"Ugh… Now Naegi will hate me."

_You're ugly, Muku! _

_There's no one anyone would want to be with a plain broad like you! _

_All the boys hate you sis. It's obvious. _

Junko's words ring in her ears. It was all true. She was super ugly compared to Junko. She had known this for years. Ever since she had accepted this as fact, she had lost what little interest that she ever held for romantic relationships. There was no point in fantasizing about something unrealistic.

Then, she met Naegi.

The boy who smiled at her.

She would deny it to anyone, even herself. But deep down, she knows. No matter how much she hated herself for it, she knows.

_I know that… I'm in love with- _

_*knock knock knock* _

"Huh?"

A series of knocks suddenly breaks up Ikusaba's thoughts. It was nearly night time… who could that be? A potential attacker? Ikusaba narrows her eyes and brings out a knife from a concealed pocket.

Bracing herself, Ikusaba opens the door and…

"Ah!"

"?!"

Ikusaba gasps as Naegi falls harshly into her room.

"Go get em, tiger!"

"Good luck!"

From where Naegi fell, she could see Kuwata, giving them a thumbs up. As he closes the door, Ikusaba could hear the sound of Hagakure laughing somewhere in the background.

"Ow…" Naegi winces and rubs his head as he sits up. "Sorry about this Ikusaba. They just kind of… forced me in here.

"..." Ikusaba kept silent and focused on making composing her face. There's no way that she would let anyone break her mask again. Not even if that 'anyone' was Naegi.

"Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about something anyway. About what happened back when Monokuma revealed the secrets."

"Ah!" Ikusaba's mask instantly breaks as she looks away, face completely red. She definitely didn't expect that Naegi would bring this up so bluntly.

"That proves it, right?"

…

"Huh?" Ikusaba looks back at Naegi, confused.

_What does my secret prove? _

"Monokuma said that Ogami was a mole… That proves that I traveled through time, right?" Naegi stares at her expectantly.

Oh.

"I… guess so." Ogami being a mole was the thing furthest from Ikusaba's mind at the moment.

At this, Naegi's face breaks into a wide smile. "So you believe me? Thanks, Ikusaba! I know that time travel is kind of hard to believe, even with proof. I really appreciate your trust."

Naegi's gratitude only served to make Ikusaba's face even more red. It didn't exactly help that his smile was so cute either…

_Ugh! To hell with it. _

Mustering up the courage, Ikusaba decides to bring up her secret. If she didn't bring it up now, then she would stay distracted for the rest of the damned killing game. "Naegi. About what Monokuma said about me… my secret. It's-"

"Oh! Don't worry about it. Monokuma was probably lying, right?" Naegi interrupts. "I guess that the mastermind probably just wanted to embarrass you in front of everyone as a sort of revenge for betraying him or something."

…

"Um, sure. Yeah. That's exactly right."


	5. Act 1, Chapter 4

"Hey there Naegs! Wanna take a bath with me?"

Hagakure pops this question out of nowhere as soon as Naegi leaves his room.

"Ahh!" Naegi jumps and rubs his chest. The morning announcement had played only 5 minutes ago, so Naegi was still relatively drowsy… until Hagakure gave him this shock. Just how long had he been waiting out here? "What are you doing outside of my room?!"

"Don't worry about it!" Hagakure says cheerfully as he pulls Naegi into a tight hug. "Just come on, take a bath with me! Just us two guys, whaddya say?"

Suddenly, Hagakure leans in and whispers into Naegi's ear. _ "Meeting in the lockers. Everyone else is there too." _

Now that Naegi thinks about it, this had happened last time as well. They had been hiding Alter Ego from Monokuma, but somehow he knew about it anyway. That meant that all of this secretive stuff was probably useless. But since there was no way that Naegi should be able to know this, he should go along with it for now.

"Erm… Sure! I was about to take a shower anyway." Naegi says.

"That's the spirit! Let's go!"

But instead of letting Naegi follow him, Hagakure practically drags Naegi all the way to the locker room, ignoring Naegi's various protests.

"We're here!" Hagakure yells as he shoves Naegi into the locker room.

"Ack!" Unfortunately for Naegi, the speed Hagakure had been dragging Naegi at combined with the sudden push was a bit too much for his legs to handle. He falls onto the floor awkwardly, nearly faceplanting.

"Ow…" Naegi mutters as he slowly gets up. He could practically feel everyone staring at him.

"Well now, look at who finally decides to join us." Togami says, smirking.

"The morning announcement _ just _played. How did everyone know to come here so quickly?"

"Ha! Yeah, that's my bad dude!" Hagakure laughs sheepishly while rubbing his head. "I passed notes to everyone but I forgot to make one for you!"

"You mean I was the only one to not get a note?" Naegi groans. It seemed like his bad luck had played out once again.

"Sometimes, I seriously doubt your supposed lucky talent." Owada comments.

"Um, anyway… Since everyone is here, I'd like to show everyone what I've been working on… It might help us get out of this school!" Fujisakis says nervously.

"Go ahead and show us already. I'm bored…" Leon sighs as he leans against the lockers.

"Hey!" Owada steps up, facing Leon. "Be patient and let him do his thing, will ya?"

"Yeah, sure."

"There's no need to delay now that Naegi has arrived." Celeste says as she smiles patiently at Fujisaki. "Please, tell us about your project."

"R-Right!" Fujisaki turns around and opens a locker that he was standing in front of. "So, I found a broken laptop a couple of days ago and I had recently repaired it."

"A laptop?" Kirigiri says. "I remember seeing one in the library earlier."

"Ah, I've been wondering where that went." Togami says.

"Y-Yeah, um… Without further ado, I would like to present…" Fujisaki opens the laptop and places it on a bench. She then takes a deep breath and presses the power button. It boots up quickly and displays a floating head in front of a green background. It looked exactly like Fujisaki. "The artificial intelligence, Alter Ego!"

…

"Oh, so many faces! Hello!" Alter ego says, smiling.

"Huh? Is that…"

"Why is your face on it?"

"Oooh! A virtual girl!"

"What is this?"

"Um… I c-can explain!" Fujisaki, who was clearly getting flustered by all of the comments tries to raise her voice in order to explain further. Unfortunately, the programmer was only drowned out by everyone else. Nearly everyone gathered around the laptop and started bombarding it with questions.

"Hey! Are you really an AI?"

"Interesting…"

"Can you hear us?"

"SHUT THE HELL UP! ALL OF YOU!" Owada, who had been keeping quiet since Alter Ego was presented, finally snaps. "JUST LET FUJISAKI FUCKIN SPEAK, HUH?!"

…

"T-Thanks Owada." Fujisaki clears his throat.

"Alter Ego is a deep learning AI, meaning that none of its responses are pre programmed. Essentially, it's like talking to a real person. There are some noticeable differences though. For example, it's very curious and will try to learn about any subject that it does not know about." As Fujisaki starts talking about Alter Ego, he seemed to turn into a different person. All of the anxiety on his face suddenly disappears and he could speak clearly. "I've tasked it to decrypt some files that were on the laptop. If there's something important hidden there, then it could potentially help us."

"Oh! This 2D girl is amazing! I'm on fire!" Yamada says, pumping his fists in the air in excitement.

"Dude, it's a guy." Hagakure says. "And a computer program."

"Anyway…" Fujisaki clears his throat, interrupting Yamada's banter. "I guess it would be better to just let Alter Ego explain. You can communicate with it through typing."

As to demonstrate, Fujisaki turns to the computer and promptly starts typing away at the keyboard.

_ *click clack* _

**Explain your purpose.**

"Yes master!" Alter Ego says in a cheery tone. She seemed genuinely excited too explain about herself. "You have tasked me with analyzing the massive number of files on this laptop!"

As Alter Ego begins to speak, the students naturally starts crowding around the laptop, clambering to get a closer look at the AI.

"I believe that the files are related to the school, but the protection on them is surprisingly strong. So it's taking me a little longer than I thought. But as Master had explained to me, the fact that the files are protected so tightly means they must contain some important information."

**How much time before you finish decrypting the files?**

Alter Ego frowns slightly. "I'm not sure, but I'm trying my best! It may take another couple of days, at the least."

Celeste nods approvingly. "Using the AI to handle the workload? Smart choice. An AI can work faster and harder than any human, after all."

"And don't worry about the mastermind finding Alter Ego!" Fujisaki chimes in. "I've got a secret plan all ready, just in case. Alter Ego can see what's going on using the built-in webcam, so if anyone suspicious shows up… I've programmed it to scream real loud!"

"That's a pretty basic plan." Ikusaba deadpans.

"Not only is it basic, but it's also extremely flawed." Togami says. "Have you managed to neglect the fact that we would all be in our rooms during the night? Our rooms are sound proofed."

Kirigiri raises her hand slightly. Though it was only a small gesture, it still managed to capture the attention of everyone in the room. "Once nighttime comes, I'll leave the door to my room open. Then there's no way I can miss Alter Ego yelling."

"Huh? Won't that leave you vulnerable?" Hagakure points out.

"I'm not as weak as you may think. I won't go down without a fight." Kirigiri states with complete confidence.

Naegi stares at the detective with awe. Even though he had already seen this play out once, it was still impressive seeing how brave Kirigiri is.

"Hey, since Ikusaba worked with the mastermind, couldn't she help decrypt that stuff a lot faster?" Kuwata asks.

"That's a surprisingly good point." Celeste comments.

"Surprisingly?!"

"I would, but I'm afraid that if I were to spill out all of these secrets, then Monokuma may interfere. The mastermind would want things to be as balanced as possible." Ikusaba sighs.

"Hmph. What a terrible excuse." Togami says, rolling his eyes. "First of all, Monokuma shouldn't even know of the existence of Alter Ego yet. There are no cameras here. Why can't you just type information into Alter Ego? Secondly, why would Monokuma care about things being fair? This may be a game, but it's one that he has complete dominance over. He even lets himself add rules to his liking whenever he wants."

"Trust me - Monokuma definitely knows that Alter Ego is here. He wouldn't overlook such a glaring weakness. Besides, didn't you see the rule Monokuma has added? I would be executed on the spot if I were to reveal information like that." Ikusaba calmly counters Togami's arguments. "Plus, if Monokuma didn't care about things being fair, he would be able to kill anyone who even annoys him. Both Naegi and I would be dead if Monokuma didn't care about the rules."

"Wait, Monokuma knows about Alter Ego?" Fujisaki puts his hands over the laptop protectively while looking around the room in a panic, as if Monokuma was somehow hiding in the locker room. "How?!"

"I suppose Monokuma would know because there are two traitors here." Togami glares at Ogami and Ikusaba.

"I have severed my ties with the mastermind." Ikusaba says, returning Togami's glare with one of her own.

"It is the same for me." Ogami says, nodding.

"And I should trust your word because…?"

"Hey! Ikusaba was almost killed by Monokuma! Of course she wouldn't be working for him anymore! Plus, Monokuma already revealed that Ogami used to be a mole to everyone! Why would Monokuma do that if Ogami was still working for him? A mole would be useless if everyone knows their identity." Naegi argues.

"Hmph." Togami scowls but doesn't argue the point.

"If the mastermind really knows about Alter Ego, then…" Fujisaki gulps anxiously.

"Then there isn't much we can do about it." Kirigiri interjects. Despite the fact that their one advantage over Monokuma might be compromised, she doesn't seem deterred in the slightest. "For now, all we can do is wait for Alter Ego to finish his work."

"Well, I guess there's not much to do here then. I'm gonna get going." Asahina says.

"I shall leave with you." Ogami nods and trails behind Asahina.

"Goodbye! We'll be back, I promise!" Yamada drools as he waves goodbye to Alter Ego.

"Come on, Yamada… Don't be a creep." Hagakure shakes his head disapprovingly.

"O-Okay…"

* * *

"We were just talking about going to the bathhouse. We have not had a chance to relax in some time." Celeste lies cleanly.

"...Huh?" Monokuma tilts his head quizzically.

"But unfortunately, the bathhouse is not divided into men and women's sections. So we decided to do rock-paper-scissors to decide which group would go first. Hina won the match for us, and that is why we are all so pleased."

"Y-Yeah, that's right!" Asahina nods frantically before turning to face the boys. "Okay you guys! Why don't you head on back to the dining hall or something? We're gonna take a nice, long bath!"

"Ahhh jeez. What're ya gonna do, right? We lost, fair and square!" Hagakure goes along with the lie, feigning defeat.

"Well ladies, shall we go?" Celeste's poker face doesn't falter for even a second. As the other girls hesitantly nods, she smiles and walks calmly back into the locker rooms with the other girls following suit.

"Nuts and dammit! We totally lost! Another day without getting to take my very first bath here!" Yamada moans dramatically.

"Yeah, but… tomorrow for sure!" Hagakure pats the otaku on the back reassuringly. "You'll definitely get that bath tomorrow!"

"Hey hey hey! This is the perfect chance for you young bachelors to get a peek, ya know?" Monokuma's face turns red as he rubs his paws together. Sweat had even begun rolling down his face, somehow.

"Huh?" Hagakure blinks.

_ Not this again… _Naegi shakes his head.

"You're absolutely right!" Yamada gasps.

"I thought you were all about the 2D." Hagakure says.

Monokuma raises both of his paws up. "All of you need to shut up, sit down, and listen to what I have to say. An opportunity like this doesn't come along very often. It's the ideal setting of a male fanta-"

"No." Naegi bluntly interrupts. It was bad enough for him to do this once, he wasn't going to do it again.

"Wha-"

"I'm actually gonna go and grab a meal in the dining hall. You two have fun."

* * *

_ 10 minutes later… _

"I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRYYYYYYYYY!" The sound of Yamada's screech fills up the entire school. It sounded like someone was scratching a chalkboard with their nails.

"I'M INNOCENT! MONOKUMA FORCED US TO DO IT!" Hagakure's voice quickly follows.

Naegi sighs as he sees Yamada and Hagakure, both with some new bruises on their faces, run into the dining hall. Hagakure even had a red palm print on his cheek.

And right behind them…

Ikusaba, Ogami, and Asahina, still wrapped in their towels, chasing the two boys with murderous glints in their eyes.

"GET BACK HERE YOU PERVERTS!" Asahina screams as she runs after them.

"I will not forgive these indecent acts!" Ogami adds.

Ikusaba doesn't say anything, instead deciding to focus on the two targets ahead of her. Surprisingly enough, the pair were managing to stay just ahead of the girls.

"So, they really were peeping on all of you?" Naegi asks nonchalantly as Asahina passes him.

"Huh?" Asahina, along with Ogami both back up and glance at Naegi curiously. "You knew about it?"

"Monokuma told us to do it, but I didn't really expect them to actually go through with it. Especially since the Ultimate Soldier was in there as well."

"Well those perverts really did go through with it!" Asahina sighs and shakes her head.

"If nothing else, I'm glad that you kept your dignity." Ogami gives him an approving smile.

"Yeah…" Naegi blushes slightly as he remembers peeking on the girls the last time that this happened. He still doesn't know exactly what possessed him to do something like that in the first place. At the very least, he considers himself extremely lucky (for once) that they didn't get caught… especially since it looked as if Kirigiri were staring right at them.

"Now then Hina, shall we catch up to Ikusaba?"

"You bet! She might need backup! See ya later Naegi!"

"See ya… good luck."

* * *

Come on, out with it. What's the motive this time" Togami crosses his arms and scowls pointedly at Monokuma.

The students of Hope's peak were all at the gym, called by Monokuma for what is presumably a third motive. Despite there already being two, no one had been killed thus far. Of course, this was thanks to Makoto Naegi… though no one knew that he had prevented both murders.

"Are you all ready for this? Puhuhuhuhu!"

"Shut up! There's no way that any of us would try to kill anyone!" Asahina objects.

"Indeed." Ogami nods pridefully. "We shall beat any motive that you give us."

"This may be the best one yet! Don't get too cocky!" Monokuma raises his arms and cackles giddily. "Puhuhuhuhu!"

A trap door opens on the ceiling and a mountain of bills falls out. Somehow, all of them managed to land in a neat row on top of the podium, just in front of Monokuma.

_ *Fwup* _

"BOOM! ONE BILLION YEN!"

…

"One billion smackaroos for the lucky student that graduates first!"

…

""Enough to set you up for thirty lives!"

…

"Hey…" Monokuma starts sweating nervously and looks around the room with an expectant look in his eyes. "Why isn't anyone saying anything?"

"Not enough."

"Huh?"

"A billion yen? Please. I can make that much in a single week." Togami grins pridefully.

"To put a price on human life… disgusting." Ogami glares at the monochrome bear with contempt.

"Oh get off your high horse! Ya know you want it! Anyway, please feel free to discuss the latest motive together! Au revoir!" Monokuma gives off one more laugh as he disappears - "Puhuhuhu!"

"I-I say that we tie up anyone with money problems!" Fukawa shrieks and points at Hagakure.

"Wh-What?!" Hagakure waves his hands in a panic. "I wouldn't take a life just to pay off my debt to the yakuza!" Even though he was denying it, there was a visible strand of drool dripping from the side of his mouth and his eyes had a dreamy look to them.

"Shut up! Y-You're definitely going to be the first murderer!" Fukawa hisses.

"Oh, come on! Why are you singling me out?" Hagakure protests. "It's not like I'm the only one here with money problems, right?"

"Well," Naegi starts. "I'm by no means rich but I definitely have enough to get by."

"I have made hundreds of millions off of gambling."

"Armies all over the world look to hire me for my talents."

"I can make as much as I need to with baseball. I'm even on some trading cards!"

"I am often hired to solve cases as a private investigator."

"I make plenty from my live performances."

"Sports magazines pay me to model their gear!"

"People from all around the world line up to buy my manga!"

"A-All of my books are bestsellers!"

"Me and my gang make plenty from winning bike races."

"Ha! I'm a diligent worker! Why, I had been working four jobs at once before I was invited to Hope's Peak!"

"I win martial arts tournaments all around the world."

"I often get hired by companies that want to upgrade their cyber security…"

"You are all beggars compared to me."

With each sentence, Hagakure's face turns paler and paler.

"... W-Well, I still wouldn't stoop so low as to murder anyone, okay?"

"Money is certainly the obvious choice for motives… It's a golden standard in both the real world and in mystery novels." Kirigiri comments, putting her hand up to her chin.

_ *ding dong bing bong* _

"Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then… sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!"

"Ten already, huh?" Asahina yawns tiredly. "Alright, I'm going to my room."

"Okay, okay, let's everyone just head back to our rooms! And don't think about the whole money thing! Got it? Good! Then let's break!" Hagakure claps his hands together once and gives everyone a thumbs up before running off to his dorm.

"He is _ SO _murdering someone…" Fukawa mutters under her breath.

As Naegi walks back to his room, he begins to formulate a plan to stop Celeste. He knew that it would be much more difficult to stop Celeste. In Maizono's case, she was completely filled with doubts even as he carried out her plan. And Owada's crime only happened in a fit of rage. Celeste's murder however, was carefully planned and executed. Plus, she was dead set on getting out of this place, even if it meant killing everyone else.

_ Despite what she says, it's obvious that she wants the money… She killed Yamada for it after all. So how should I stop her? _

* * *

"Ahhh! Someone hellllppppp!" Yamada screeches in terror.

"Yamada, what's going on?" Naegi asks. Hagakure invited Naegi to another 'bath'. Somehow, he had forgotten to make a note to give to Naegi… again. So Naegi ended up being the last one to arrive to the lockers… again. He had just arrived at the locker rooms when Yamada started freaking out.

"Mr. Naegi! Save me! I've never asked you for anything, but I'm asking now!"

"What happened?"

"She's trying to kill me!" Despite their size difference, Yamada attempts to hide behind Naegi as he points at the detective.

_ Ah. _ Naegi thinks to himself. _ I forgot that Yamada falls in love with Alter Ego. _

"I never said that I was going to kill him. I'm simply asking him why he made the same mistake twice."

"H-Huh? What did Yamada do?" Asahina asks anxiously.

"He snuck into the dressing room in the middle of the night and accessed Alter Ego without permission. And when I caught him last night, he was hugging the laptop and breathing strangely."

"What were you doing?!" Maizono stares at Yamada with a disturbed expression.

"I thought I made myself clear yesterday, but since being subtle didn't work I suppose I have to clarify myself further…"

"Hyaaaaaah! Please don't kill me!"

"I'm not going to kill you - merely instruct you."

"Ngh… gh!" Yamada puts his hands up to his face in fear.

"Um, Yamada…" Naegi says gently, patting the otaku on the arm. "Could you tell us what happened?"

"I-I mean, you see… Talking to her was just so much fun! And I j-just…"

"Whoah! Okay, time out! I can't even believe that I'm about to ask this, but Hifumi… you're not gonna tell us that you fell in love or anything, are you?" Hagakure asks, clearly mortified at the mere thought of something like that happening.

"Hah! That I, the cold-blooded killing machine of the underworld would ever fall in love?! That's…" Yamada pauses as his face slowly contorts into shock. "Wait. Is this… love?!"

"I happened to do a psychic reading for a certain famous CEO once and that guy was seriously madly in love with a mannequin. He had a wedding and everything! And your eyes just now… I saw the same look in HIS eyes!" Hagakure says, backing up as far away from Yamada as humanly possible.

"Shut up! She's not a mannequin, She's an ANGEL!" Yamada shouts, stepping towards the laptop. "And don't bother telling me that angels don't exist! What we have can't be def-"

"S-Stop it!" Fujisaki intervenes, stepping between Yamada and Alter Ego. He had an uncharacteristically angry expression on his face. "Don't you DARE act all creepy like that to Alter Ego!"

"Eeek!" Yamada screeches.

"Ha! Well said!" Owada laughs approvingly.

"If you k-keep acting like a creep to Alter Ego, then I'll… I'll program him to hate you or something!"

"AIEEEEEE! No! Please, anything but that!" Yamada drops to his knees and puts his head to the floor. "She's the only girl to ever understand me! She didn't call me weird or disgusting when I told her about my hobbies. She acted interested! So please, don't make her hate me!"

"Alter Ego was not interested in who you _ were _ . It was interested in what you _ knew _. It is an artificial intelligence. It exists to learn. Of course it wanted to hear about information it didn't know. You are an expert in many things Fujisaki could not have known about, for what it's worth. Alter Ego wants that information. That is all." Celeste states bluntly.

"... I know that. But stil…"

Fujisaki shakes his head, apparently disgusted. "Owada, I know this might be too much to ask, but… can you try to make sure that Yamada doesn't keep lusting over Alter Ego like this?"

"No problem, bro!" Owada cracks his knuckles menacingly. "I won't let him hog Alter Ego!"

"... I'm afraid I can't let you do that. I can't withdraw… Mr. Owada. Since I have this opportunity, let me say this right now. Destiny has bound me and her together in the Gordian Knot of true love!" Yamada jumps up and points a finger at Owada.

"Yamada! I must ask that you calm yourself! It is not appropriate for students to do such indecent acts, especially against a computer!" Ishimaru retorts sharply.

Meanwhile, Naegi observes this scene with interest.

_ So it's Mondo that Yamada is rivaling himself with instead of Ishimaru? _

"Stop bein' a creep dude! Wanna get smashed?"

"I punch at the speed of light! I shall not yield to your threats!"

"That's enough." Kirigiri interjects. "Yamada, Alter Ego belongs to Fujisaki. I ask that you stop sneaking out to talk with him, lest the mastermind finds out."

"B-But, the mastermind already knows!" Yamada argues.

Kirigiri shakes her head. "While it is certainly plausible, it is still not for certain. It's better to be safe."

"Yeah! So Stop creeping on him!" Owada shouts, slamming a fist into his palm.

Ogami assumes a menacing stance as she stares down at Yamada. "If you wish to disturb our peace, you will have to get through me as well."

"Until Alter Ego has finished his work, don't do anything weird. Have I made myself clear?" Kirigiri asks coldly.

"Y-Yes…" Yamada stares at the floor dejectedly, dragging his feet as he exits the changing room.

"Phew… Thanks guys." Fujisaki lets out a breath of relief.

"Ha! No problem, bro."

"I'm kind of worried about Yamada to be honest…" Kuwata says. "Falling in love with an AI is really bad news."

"You're right." Kirigiri nods. "That's why we have to stop him from interacting with it. Besides, who knows?"

"Perhaps his obsession could lead to the first murder."


	6. Act 1, Chapter 5

"Oh, hey Owada! What are you doing up this late?"

Naegi had been waiting for a while in the hallway, just outside of Ishimaru's room. He was planning to tail Ishimaru. Last time around, Ishimaru had been baited by Yamada's fake note. He was lead to believe that an exit had been found and was supposed to meet up in the equipment room. Unfortunately, it was all just part of Celeste's plan… instead of getting out of here, Ishimaru was killed.

Surprisingly, Ishimaru hadn't come out of his room though… and instead, it was Owada who he ended up seeing.

"Sup Naegi?" Owada raises a hand in greeting. He seemed unusually cheerful. "I just got some note saying that they found a way outta here."

At this, Naegi's blood freezes. Why did Owada get the note instead of Ishimaru?

"H-Huh?" Naegi stammers, caught off guard. "Um… If that's the case, can I come with you?"

_Wait a minute… this time around, it was Owada who was primarily opposing Yamada, not Ishimaru. It would make sense for Celeste to lie about Owada instead. Dang! Why didn't I realize this sooner? _Naegi berates himself.

"Sure!" Owada says, completely oblivious to Naegi's thoughts. "Let's go."

* * *

As soon as Naegi and Owada enter the equipment room, a small gasp can be heard from behind the open door.

"Crap!"

"Huh?" Owada turns around and looks at Yamada. He was hiding in a corner, right behind the door. "Oh, hey Yamada. Did you get a note too?"

"Oh, uh yeah. M-Mr. Naegi, you came here as well?" Yamada hastily changes the subject. He was holding something behind his back, and not very well. A large sheen of sweat is visible on his forehead and he was shaking nervously. Anyone who looked at him for longer than three seconds would have gotten suspicious.

"Yeah, I did. Yamada, what are you holding behind your back?" Naegi asks with an edge of accusation in his voice. Of course, Naegi had known that Yamada was only expecting one person. He reasoned that if two people showed up, he would be a lot more hesitant to go through the murder. It was a gamble, but one that was clearly paying off.

"Huh, now that you mention it…" Owada glances at Yamada suspiciously. "What the hell is that?"

"U-Um, t-that is… Well you see…" Yamada starts fidgeting around nervously. Consequently, his hands shifted around a bit and the object that he was holding became partially visible from behind his large back.

Owada's eyes bulge out. "Holy crap! That's one fuckin huge hammer! Why the hell do you have that?!

…

"Wait a sec. Don't tell me that you were gonna try and attack m-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Yamada abruptly throws himself at the floor, bowing in a dogeza position. "I'M SO SORRYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Yamada screeches, waterfalls of tears pouring out of his eyes.

"I-It was Ms. Ludenberg!" The otaku sobs loudly. "She planned this! She told me a bunch of stuff about you and…" Yamada sniffs before rushing through his next sentence rapidly.

"_Ijustgotangryandagreedtoherplanimsorryitwasapurespurofthemomentthingiswear!"_

…

"Hey, chill dude." Surprisingly, Owada didn't seem angry at all. In fact, there was even pity visible on his face. Instead of flying into a rage, he actually offers his hand to the sobbing Yamada. "I know that being angry can get you to do some dumb shit. Let's just forget all of this, huh?"

"Y-You…" Yamada glances up at him through wet glasses. "You really forgive me?"

"Well, nothing bad happened right? Just tell us what Celeste told you to do, alright?"

"Huh? Owada, you're not mad at him?" Naegi was flabbergasted. In his mind, Owada would have been the one to murder Yamada if he ended up finding out about the murder plan. He thought for sure that he would have to restrain Owada to prevent him from attacking the otaku.

"I-I swear Mr. Owada, I will never forget your one true moment of kindness! I swear on my honor as an Uber Neo-Samurai Assassin Master, I shall repay you one day!" Yamada bounces up and looks at Owada gratefully.

"Whatever dude." Owada brushes Yamada off, clearly uncomfortable. "Just tell us about what you were trying to do, huh?"

"Yes sir!" Yamada straightens up and salutes. "Ms. Ludenberg approached me earlier and accused you of doing extremely indecent things to her!"

"I-Indecent?" Owada's face quickly turns red. "I would never do anything to harm a woman! It's my code of honor!"

"Y-Yeah, I thought about that too, but Ms. Ludenberg said that you did those types of… things. To be honest, I was still angry that you were guarding me from Alter Ego, so I didn't think that much about it.

"Anyway, what happened next?" Naegi already knew most of the details about Celeste's plan, but it wouldn't hurt to see if anything had changed… like how Owada was the target this time instead of Ishimaru.

"She told me that I could help her take revenge… in a murder shceme. She didn't say much about it, but she told me to give two notes - one to you, and one to Mr. Hagakure."

"Wait a sec, Hagakure got a note too? So where is he?" Owada looks around, as if he expected Hagakure to be in the room with them.

"Ah, yes… That was also a part of Ms. Ludenberg's plan. His note had him come way before you did. We were going to frame him for the murder."

"Yeah… so again, where is he?"

"... We put him into Robo-Justice and stuffed him into one of the pool lockers."

"Robo-Justice?" Owada blinks.

"Ah… Robo-Justice is a giant warrior robot from one of the animes that I watch! He goes around the world and acts as an ally of ju-"

"Okay okay!" Owada quickly puts both of his hands up. "I get it. So a robot suit, right?"

_A robot suit… I guess that part stayed the same. I still don't really get it, but Yamada seems to really like this character._

"Y-Yeah. Afterwards, I was to fake my own death in order to create an alibi while Ms. Ludenberg murdered someone else. She wouldn't tell me who her target would be though." Yamada mutters the last sentence and seemed to deflate as he said this.

"..." Naegi averts his gaze, quickly becoming uncomfortable. Yamada didn't know this, but Celeste was going to kill him in cold blood, even after helping her with her plan… it was pretty cruel.

"Man, that's fucked up. Me and one other person was supposed to die?" Owada shakes his head in disbelief.

"Y-Yeah…" Owada glances at his feet guiltily. He still couldn't believe that he was actually going to go through with the plan and actually kill someone.

"Alright, that's it!" Owada suddenly shouts. "Let's go find Celeste and make her explain herself!"

"I'll go too." Out of nowhere, Kirigiri suddenly steps into the room, arms crossed. Judging by the look on her face, she likely heard everything about Yamada's attempted murder.

"H-Huh? Kirigiri? When did you…" Naegi stares at the detective in confusion.

"I leave my door open at night, remember? Yamada's incessant shouting woke me up. I overheard most of his account." Kirigiri hardens her gaze. "In any case, I have questions for Celeste as well."

"Okay then." Naegi looks at the other three people in the room. "Let's all go together then."

* * *

Just as Celeste had finished faking her assault, Kirigiri, along with Naegi and Owada comes in. In order to fake the attack, she had torn her uniform in several places and applied makeup in order to form a bruise. She also put some scratches on her cheek. Though not that deep in detail, it seemed like she was legitimately injured.

_Shit! _Celeste cursed to herself. _How did they find me so quickly? And why isn't Owada dead yet?! Was I betrayed by Yamada after all?_

"O-Oh!" Celeste quickly puts her mask on and quickly steps up to face Naegi. "I-I was stupid. I got attacked!"

Naegi raises a brow. "Attacked?"

"Y-Yes. By some sort of strange man."

"Celeste. I'm going to have to ask you to stop lying." Kirigiri frowns. "It would make things a lot easier."

"I'm telling the truth! Why would you think I'm lying?!"

Owada sighs and shakes his head. "We heard everything from Yamada. Give it up."

"..."

With that, Celeste's fears were finally confirmed. That dumb fat Otaku couldn't keep his mouth shut and now she had nowhere to run. If by some miracle she wasn't ostracized by the rest of the group over this, she would at the very least be made into a giant target for murders.

_No. That can not happen. I must live. I must lie._

"Well…"

_I need to lie. I'm the queen of lies. I_

"Yamada…"

_must survive I must get out of_

"He was the one who actually attacked me! I have a"

_Here I need to get out I will get out_

"picture of him attacking Hagakure!"

_lielielielielielielielielieLIELIELIELIELIELIELIE_

"Yamada tried to murder both of us!"

_I MUST LIE_

"... Would you show us the picture then?" Kirigiri asks in her usual cool demeanor. She didn't show it, but she wasn't convinced in the slightest.

"Yes, here it is. It's on the camera I found the other day." Celeste says as she pulls out a small toy camera. It was decorated with graphics from 'Pretty Pudgy Princess'.

"See for yourself. Yamada was carrying Hagakure on his back after knocking him unconscious. I managed to take a picture on the camera but he noticed me so Yamada had decided to attack me as well. He must have decided to blame-"

"I don't see Hagakure in this picture." Kirigrii deadpans, interrupting Celeste in the middle of her ramblings.

"W-What?"

"I just see Yamada carrying some sort of robot."

Celeste gasps as she realizes her mistake. How could she have been so careless? Hagakure being in the robot suit was one of the most pivotal parts of her plan… and she had made a careless slip of the tongue.

_NO!_

_KEEP LYING KEEP LYING KEEP LYING KEEP LYING KEEP LYING KEEP LYING_

"Oh, did I forget to mention? I witnessed him stuffing Hagakure into that suit. That should explain it, no?"

Naegi suddenly places a harm on her arm. It took all of her willpower to not jerk her arm away. "Celeste. You don't need to keep this up. We know what you two planned."

_KEEP LYING KEEP LYING KEEP LYING_

"I'm not lying, okay?" Celeste replies calmly.

"This is just getting sad." Owada scoffs. "It's obvious that you're lying."

_KEEP LYING KEEP LYING_

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Celeste's mask suddenly shatters as she flies into a fit of rage. How _dare _these idiots talk down to her like this?! An average kid, some moody girl, and a meathead all acting so _smug _just because some fatty ratted her out?! They weren't better than her. All of them were inferior. "That DAMNED tub of lard tried to kill Hagakure and I! Why don't you see that?! HE'S THE ONE TO BLAME!"

"No, that's wrong!" Naegi shouts, pointing a finger at Celeste.

"?!"

"Celeste… If Yamada attacked you after catching you taking a picture, why didn't he break the camera you had? A picture like that would definitely be crucial evidence in a class trial."

_KEEP. LYING._

"Yamada noticed ME, you moron. Not the camera. I hid it from him.

"But Yamada told us that you had a picture before we even came here. He knew about the picture."

_Keep…_

"I…"

_Lying…_

"That is…"

Suddenly, Owada speaks up. "Look, I know you wanna get out of here. Hell, we all do. But we need to team up on that fucking bear to do that. We shouldn't be killing each other here. We've survived through two motives so far, why can't we make it a third?"

"..."

"That's right! We can do this together. Mark my words, we will take down the mastermind... together." Naegi states confidently, with a smile plastered on his face.

"..."

"Killing each other is just what Monokuma wants. You're smart enough to know that playing into his hands is a bad idea." Kirigiri hands Celeste's camera back to her.

"... Fine." Celeste sighs heavily. "I admit defeat."

* * *

"Hello, Yamada."

"Oh… Ms. Ludenberg."

The otaku and gambler awkwardly stare at each other. At Naegi's insistence, the two had met up in order to make amends. It would be bad to harbor grudges, especially in a situation like this.

_If I lose my temper again, that would just make my life at this damned school even harder…_

Swallowing her pride, Celeste makes the first move. "I would like to formally… apologize."

"Ah, yes indeed I- WHAAAAAAT?!"

"Oh, put a sock in it. I'm capable of empathy you know. I lied to you and dragged you into a murder scheme. For that, I apologize." Celeste gives a sickly sweet smile to an astonished Yamada.

"I-I see now!" Yamada exclaims, rubbing his chin with his fingers. "You… really are a tsundere!"

"Don't push your luck…" Celeste kept smiling but the atmosphere got considerably more dense.

"Eep! Erm, I accept your apology! Water under the bridge." Tamada quickly waves his hands in surrender.

Celeste lets out a small sigh of relief. "Good."

But apologizing to Yamada was actually the easiest part. He was always one of the more gullible ones. Plus, he held plenty of guilt himself. But once Naegi and the others return to the group and told them of what she had planned, then…

_Well, I'm not looking forward to explaining myself to Togami or Fukawa…_

* * *

"Hey Celeste! You were kinda late today. We were getting worried." Kuwata waves his hand lazily as he eats his lunch.

It was around 1 PM - nearly the middle of the day.

"I thought that perhaps Monokuma's game had finally begun…" Togami sighs with a slight tinge of disappointment in his face. "What a shame."

"Hm?" Celeste looks at the two with confusion. They were acting as if she hadn't tried to _murder _anyone!

"Monokuma's game really did begin, I'm telling you!" Hagakure shakes his finger in front of Togami's face, causing him to sneer in disgust. "He himself had kidnapped me this morning!"

This only sought to bring Celeste more confusion. Why did Hagakure think it was Monokuma who had kidnapped him?

"Kidnapped?" Celeste questions with a tilt of her head.

"Exactly! He sent me a taunting note and then drugged me! When I woke back up, I was laying near the pool with some seriously stiff joints!" Hagakure exclaims. "I think that he donated my body to aliens and had me probed!"

"Don't listen to the moron." Togami rolls his eyes. "He's likely just finishing for attention.

"Well the pool part I can confirm." Asahina interjects. "When Sakura and I looked for everyone this morning, we found him passed out near the pool lockers."

"About that…" Ogami says with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "What were you all doing? You, along with Togami, Fukawa, and as mentioned before, Hagakure, were absent from the morning meeting. Kirigiri and Naegi were both late as well but they didn't offer any explanation. Togami and Fukawa, I can understand. But what about the others?"

Suddenly, comprehension dawns in Celeste's mind. For some reason, the others didn't tell anyone about her scheme… but why?

Celeste makes a mental note to interrogate Naegi later. He would probably be the most willing to divulge information out of the trio. For now though, she needed to come up with some ort of explanation.

"I had dedicated this morning to do some… self-maintenance."

"Self-maintenance?" Maizono echoes.

"Yes. Cleaning my room, and myself as well as organizing my belongings… I apologize if my absence worried the rest of you."

"..." Ogami stares at her for a moment before sighing. "That's fine. Just tell us in advance in the future. Missing over a third of our group was worrying, to say the least."

Celeste offers a small smile and nods.

"I won't make the same mistake twice."

* * *

Makoto Naegi is facing a dilemma.

_Was this the right thing to do?_

The reason why he had told everyone to keep Celeste's murder plan as a secret was because that might have been the last straw.

First, Fukawa as named as Genocider Jill. Then, Junko was revealed to just be Ikusaba in disguise and was working for the mastermind. Ogami was also revealed to be a mole for the mastermind. On top of that, Maizono as well as Owada were shown to have caused the deaths of two other people, though indirectly.

Though no murders had happened yet, distrust was relatively high in the group. Knowing that Celeste was planning a murder, AND that Yamada went along with it would be too much.

He had a good reason, but was it good enough?

Just thinking about this actually made Naegi feel bad. It was almost like he was admitting that his friends couldn't be trusted.

_But that's not true… I do trust them! That's why I'm trying to save them… That's why I was given a second cha-_

"Naegi?"

Someone's voice abruptly breaks Naegi's line of thought.

"Ah!" Naegi immediately jumps up in a knee-jerk reaction and finds himself facing…

Celeste.

"Oh, Celeste." Naegi rubs his chest and lets out a sigh of relief. "Jeez, you really scared me there!"

Celeste frowns, disappointment plastered all over her face. "You shouldn't keep your room unlocked."

"Oh, I left it unlocked?" Naegi laughs sheepishly. "That's kind of a bad habit of mines… I can never remember to lock my door. Anyway, what are you doing here Celeste?"

The gambler sharpens her gaze. "I want you to explain."

"Explain?"

"Why didn't you tell anyone about my murder attempt? What are you planning?" Celeste asks, voice slowly climbing in volume. "Are you trying to blackmail me? Is that it?!"

"W-What? No, of course not!" Naegi says.

"So why?! Tell me!"

"Look." Naegi puts his hands out in a placating gesture. "It's just that… Well, I don't want to create more tension, you know? We're already under high pressure from Monokuma and all of his motives… A murder might really happen if more stuff keeps piling on top of everything."

"..." Celeste could do nothing but stare at Naegi in shock.

"Besides, nothing really happened right? I don't want you to become isolated because of this. I think that everyone deserves… a second chance."

"A second chance." Celeste says tonelessly. "I see."

…

"ARE YOU INSANE?!"

Naegi's face quickly turns pale. "Eh?"

"I tried to kill TWO people, Naegi. TWO! You shouldn't be so damn forgiving! You're just going to get exploited someday! You won't last a single second in the real world with that kind of optimism!" Celeste snarls as she points her metal finger at him.

"..."

"If anything, I _deserve _to be isolated! It's the logical thing to do… I did just plan out an entire murder, Naegi! Get that through your thick skull, why don't you?"

"No, that's wrong!"

Celeste gasps as Naegi suddenly counters her finger point with one of his own.

"You don't deserve isolation! No one deserves something like that! If you think that you deserve to be separated from the rest of the group, then wouldn't Yamada and Fukawa both deserve it as well?"

"What?!"

"Yamada attempted murder too. And Fukawa herself is literally Genocider Jill. Despite this, you haven't made any argument to isolate either of them yet."

"Th-That's different!" Celeste argues. "Yamada only tried to kill because of me! And Genocider Jill might as well be an entirely separate person - she has a split personality disorder!"

"But did Yamada not decide to go along with your plan of his own free will?"

"..."

"And can't Genocider Jill appear at practically any time?"

"..."

"It's okay, Celeste." Naegi smiles gently at her. "You don't need to punish yourself for this."

"Naegi… You are too kind for your own good." Celeste shakes her head in amazement. "Not to mention annoyingly bright."

Naegi laughs awkwardly. "I've heard that one before."

"Very well then… I suppose that I shall take my leave. Farewell." Celeste slowly walks out of his room, seemingly dazed.

"See you, Celeste!"

As soon as Celeste closes the door behind him, Naegi collapses onto his bed in relief. He didn't show it, but he was actually pretty scared there. It kind of freaks him out whenever Celeste snaps like that. Her metal finger didn't really help either.

But despite feeling mentally exhausted, Naegi still felt good.

He was making progress.

He would do this - he would save his friends.

All of them.

* * *

_*knock knock*_

No more than 30 seconds after Celeste leaves, someone else knocks on Naegi's door.

"Huh? Now who is it?" Naegi mutters to himself as he pulls himself up from his bed.

Opening the door, he finds himself in front of…

"Oh! Maizono, what's up?" Naegi greets her. "Do you need something?"

"..." Maizono doesn't say anything at first. Instead, she opts to walk into her room and looks around. There was a look of clear suspicion on her face and for some reason, she seemed to be fixated on his bed.

After a minute, Naegi clears his throat. "Um… Maizono?"

"So you two were alone in your room together."

"... What?"

"Wouldn't you say that Celeste has a great poker face? I mean, she would have to have a good one. She _is _the Ultimate Gambler." Maizono says as she turns her gaze from the room to Naegi.

Baffled, Naegi slowly nods his head. "I guess so?" Why is Maizono asking about this all of the sudden?

"I noticed that Celeste had just walked out of your room. She was acting rather flustered, you know." Maizono's gaze slowly turns into a glare. "Now, what could you and Celeste possibly have done together that was embarrassing enough to make a girl like her get flustered?"

"No, no! Maizono, she just wanted to talk to me about something, I swear!" Naegi laughs nervously and takes a step back. He _really _did not like how Maizono looked right now… she looked as scary as Celeste did.

Maizono studies Naegi's face for a moment before exhaling. "You're telling the truth… But what were the two of you talking about?"

"Oh, um… It's a secret, sorry."

"She told you a secret then. Probably an embarrassing one too, judging by how she was acting…"

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Maizono slams her fist into the door with an enraged look on her face.

"That damn BITCH beat me to the punch! I hate goths like her!"

"Ah!" Naegi yelps. "Maizono, are you okay?!"

"How could I be?!" Maizono was practically shouting now. "Celeste just confessed her feelings to you and I-"

"What?!" Naegi's face suddenly erupts into a blush. "Wait, don't get the wrong idea Maizono! It wasn't about anything like that at all!"

"... It wasn't?"

"N-No. I promise." Naegi says tentatively. Why was Maizono so angry about the idea of Celeste 'confessing' her feelings anyway…?

Maizono's face flushes as she realizes her mistake.

"Oh… okay. If it wasn't anything like that then I'll just make my way out… Sorry for disturbing you, Naegi." The pop idol mutters under her breath as he hurriedly leaves.

…

"Jeez… why was she so worried about that? Where did she even get the idea that Celeste would… confess her feelings to me?" Naegi asks himself.

…

_*knock knock*_

…

Naegi opens the door.

…

Ikusaba is standing there with a deadly serious look on her face. She was twirling a sharp looking butterfly knife around in one of her hands, glinting dangerously in the light.

"So, I noticed that you and Maizono were in your room together… Alone."


	7. Act 1, Chapter 6

Since Monokuma's money motive had been introduced, no murders had happened. Aside from Celeste, no one tried anything. Not even Hagakure attempted murder (though he did often stare wistfully at the giant mountain of cash).

For every single day a murder didn't happen, Monokuma decided to add an extra 100 million yen. "Sweetening the pot" was what he called it. But two weeks pass and no one made a move. The original prize for winning had been increased from one billion yen to almost two and a half billion yen. Despite this, no one went through with a murder.

Not even Celeste, who desperately wanted the money to build the castle of her dreams, tried anything.

Once again, Monokuma's motive fails.

* * *

"Oh, woe is me! Woe is woe! How could this happen to one as fair as I? For if no deaths occur, what does the despair's covenant mean to the world? Is there no point? Even with the prize of any man's dream, these fools hath not pulled the trigger!"

The students of Hope's Peak could only stare at Monokuma as he moaned dramatically, lazing about on the gigantic pile of yen. He was shedding a few tears and wiped them using the stacks of cash he had.

"It's a tragedy! For me beloved yen has no one to be with! Alas, the teenage devils of yonder has forsaken thou…" Monokuma slowly gets up and walks away from the yen, sniffling to himself.

…

"Oh well. Guess I don't need the money anymore."

_*FWOOSH*_

In the blink of an eye, all of the money suddenly bursts into flames.

"Nooooo! Dude, what the hell?!" Hagakure hastily scrambles up to the bonfire and runs around it, searching for any bills that may have been spared from the fire. Unfortunately, every single bill had gone up. Already, a giant pillar of smoke began to fill the stadium as an unpleasant smell wafts from the flaming pile of yen.

"Huh? No one murdered for it, so I kind of assumed that no one wanted it. Why are you worrying _now_ of all times?" Monokuma asks, staring at the panic stricken Hagakure.

"Couldn't you have left around eight million yen untouched?" The clairvoyant gives up and sits on the floor, groaning. He stares longingly at the ashes from the fire, shedding a few tears all the while.

"I would happily give you eight million if you murder someone!"

"Heck no!"

"Gahhh!" Monokuma snarls, red eye glowing menacingly. Steam literally blows out of his ears as he begins jumping up and down in a rage. "You damned kids! What's so bad about murder, eh? All you gotta do is commit a moral atrocity and you can get out of here! Why won't anyone just kill?!"

"As you have said, it's a moral atrocity." Kirigiri deadpans.

"Screw you!" Monokuma shouts. "Fine, get out of here before I murder all of you myself! The next floor is unlocked, so go explore or jack off or something!"

"How vulgar." Togami sneers, apparently unaffected by seeing the billions of yen go up in flames.

"What a waste of money." Celeste sighs sadly. "Well, we really should get out of this room… The smoke is beginning to thicken considerably."

Ishimaru sharply claps, gaining the attention of all of the students, sans Togami and Fukawa who had already left the gym.

"Alright! Let's do our best to explore the new floor! Ready, team?"

"..."

"Okay!" Ishimaru says, grinning proudly. "Let's go then!"

* * *

"The music room, huh?"

Naegi looks around the giant room. This place didn't seem very relevant during the 1st killing game Naegi went through, so it was one of the places he wasn't too familiar with. The music room was so big that it resembled more of a concert hall then anything else.

Kirigiri, who also happened to be in the room, walks up to Naegi.

"You know, you haven't told me what you think yet." Kirigiri looks at Naegi expectantly.

_Right… This had also happened last time. Kirigiri asks me about the secret room in the bathroom and I tell her that I was attacked by the mastermind. Afterwards, she tells me what I was hiding but got mad when I didn't tell her… But Ogami is already revealed to be a mole, so I don't think she has any reason to think I'm hiding anything._

"About the secret room in the boys bathroom?"

Before the investigation, Kirigiri had asked Naegi to investigate it for her - apparently as a sign of trust. He was attacked the last time he had looked through it, but this time, by the time he got there, the files were already stolen.

"I did find the secret room, but there wasn't really anything in there. It was empty."

"Empty?" Kirigiri's eyes widen slightly. "I see… I suppose the mastermind must have stolen them. That means there must have been some clue in there related to the mastermind's identity."

Naegi nods in agreement. "I guess so. He must have seen you go in the boys bathroom through the cameras, right?"

"Right. I wanted to see how the mastermind would react to you going in… But apparently it was too late. I had already read what I needed to, so it wasn't a total loss… but It's still a shame that he beat us to it."

Suddenly, Kirigiri steps closer to Naegi. "Unless you're the mastermind… and cleared out the room yourself."

"W-What?!" Naegi stammers. "I'm not the mastermind! Why do you think that?"

"..." Instead of responding, Kirigiri begins to look over Naegi. Her eyes slowly go up and down his body as she examines him. At the same time, she seemed to be muttering something to herself. Naegi had no idea what to do, so he just stood there awkwardly as Kirigiri looks at every single inch of him.

…

"I don't think that you're the mastermind." Kirigiri finally says as she backs away from Naegi. "But… I do think that you're hiding something. Something big."

"W-What?!" Naegi gasps.

"You thought that I wouldn't notice?" Kirigiri gives him a small smirk. "I've been studying you since the beginning of the game. No matter what Monokuma threw at us, no matter what kind of crazy events happen, you never seem surprised. It's like you knew everything that was going to happen… which I think you do."

Naegi blinks in amazement. She was this perspective?!

"Kirigiri, I-"

"That's not all." Kirigiri interrupts. "At the very beginning of the game, you fainted and had to be carried around by Owada. But when you woke up, you somehow knew that we were in a killing game… despite the fact that Monokuma didn't mention it while you were conscious."

Kirigiri starts pacing around now, with a hand on her chin. Her eyes were slightly clouded and she seemed to be talking to herself rather than to Naegi. "Ever since then, I had been keeping a very close eye on you. There was a good chance that you were the mastermind, considering your knowledge of the game. However, there were three things that convinced me that you weren't the mastermind."

She abruptly stops in place and holds up a single gloved finger. "One - you convinced Maizono to not murder anyone."

"Y-You knew about that?!" Naegi stammers.

"Yes. Did I not tell you that I had been paying attention to you since the game started?" Kirigiri asks. "Anyway, that's not all. You also saved Ikusaba from the mastermind's betrayal, stepped in between Owada and Fujisaki before another potential murder coud break out, and even confronted Celeste and Yamada."

"O-Oh…" Naegi blinked owlishly, apparently dumbfounded. "So that's why…?"

Instead of responding, Kirigiri ignores him and puts up a second finger. "Two - Not once had I seen you done anything to operate Monokuma. It's possible that Monokuma is a fully functioning AI, but I doubt that one at that level of complexity is impossible at the present. At some point in time, Monokuma would have needed _some _sort of maintenance… yet you haven't done anything of the sort."

Finally, Kirigiri puts up a third finger. "And third… To be frank, you just don't seem suspicious. Aside from your apparent knowledge of everything that Monokuma had been planning, nothing you have said or done anything to warrant any suspicion."

"..."

"So tell me. What are you hiding? I don't think your the mastermind, but how do you know about all of this?" Kirigiri looks into Naegi's eyes expectantly. "Can you tell me?"

Slowly, Naegi nods. "O-Okay… Kirigiri, I've gotta say… You are really smart. Like, I don't even know how you do this stuff. You're amazing."

An almost imperceptible blush touches Kirigiri's cheeks. She shifts her eyes downwards, breaking eye contact. "It's just simple reasoning… no need to flatter me. Just tell me what your secret is."

"Do you have a paper and pen?"

"Worried about the cameras? That's good." Kirigiri says approvingly. She reaches into her jacket pocket and brings out a pen and a napkin.

…

"**Go 2 locker rooms tonight. Complicated situation. Too much to explain through writing down."**

…

As Kirigiri reads his message, her mouth curls in disappointment. Despite this, she doesn't raise any protests.

"Very well." Kirigiri nods and doesn't say anything more.

* * *

_*ding dong bing bong*_

"Emergency, emergency! Come to the gym at once! I have something VERY important to tell all of you!" Monokuma's blaring voice echoes throughout the school as he shouts into the PA system. "So get here, pronto!"

"Ugh, is that a new motive already?" Owada scowls at one of the school speakers.

"I-I guess we will have to discuss our findings later…" Fujisaki comments, obviously disappointed. Fujisaki had been waiting all day for the perfect time to tell everyone some news - Alter Ego had just finished analyzing all of the files! He had found a bunch of useful stuff… If she kept bottling up this info, she might just explode.

They had just finished exploring the 4th floor. Investigation had revealed that this floor contains the Music Room, the Staff Room, the Headmaster's Office, the Chemistry Lab, and Classrooms 4-A and 4-B. The Data Processing Room is also on this floor but it was kept locked.

"_Hey, why is this door locked?" Kuwata scowls as he starts banging on the door to the Data Processing Room. "Let us in!"  
_"_Stop that! No touchy, no touchy!" Out of nowhere, Monokuma springs up and shoves Kuwata backwards. _

"_Hey!"_

"_Do you wanna get executed?! Read the new rule! God, youth these days!"_

"_There's a new rule?" Kuwata checks his E-Handbook and sure enough…_

**Breaking down a locked door is now prohibited!**

"_Jeez… what's even in there?"_

Along with the Data Processing Room, the Headmaster's office was also under lock and key. The door breaking regulation had to be added when Owada started slamming on the door hard enough to cause the walls to shake.

These two locked rooms contained vital clues - Naegi knew this. The Headmaster's office contained the Headmaster's handbook, which unlocked pretty much everything in the school. It also held a class registry with profiles on every single student. The Data Processing Room connected to the Monokuma control room and held live footage from all of the security cameras in the school. But it wasn't like he could just tell everyone about these things.

_Well, I suppose I will have to tell everything to Kirigiri..._

* * *

"Alright you kids, I have decided to throw a lifeline out! It's pretty pathetic watching you people run around, looking for clues. So I've decided to give you a clue that doubles as a motive! Puhuhuhhuhu!" Monokuma guffaws sadistically.

"When will you learn, Monokuma?!" Ishimaru shouts fiercely. "Your silly motives will never break us!"

"Yeah, bro is right!" Owada slings an arm around his shoulder. "Our bonds are unbreakable!"

"Puhuhuhuhu! Just shut up and listen, why don't ya? There's yet _another _traitor in your midst!"

"Another?" Ogami glares at the bear with malice. "Have you forced yet another student to take part in your schemes?"

"Oh please… I would _never _force any student to do something unwillingly! That would be unbecoming of a headmaster! Everything you say or do here is of your own free will, you know? Freedom is a very important right in these parts!"

"Quit lying, you demonspawn!" Yamada yells, pointing at Monokuma. "You have forced us to live here forever!"

"Are you surrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeee?" Monokuma asks.

"Of course! I'm not here of my own free will, that's for sure!"

"Back on topic…" Togami interrupts with a sharp tone. "Is this your motive? Saying that we have another spy here working for you?"

"Oh no no no! This is a package deal! I'm going to TELL you who the traitor is!"

Naegi looks around cautiously. This was a completely different scenario from the other time line, but he had been expecting it to be different. Monokuma couldn't use the fact that Ogami was a traitor as a motive anymore, after all. But this meant that he was going to experience this for the first time, just like everyone else.

_Who could the new spy be?_

"This DASTARDLY traitor is…"

Monokuma grabs a wooden stick out of thin air and points it to the middle of the group.

"Makoto Naegi!"

* * *

***A/N* Bit of a shorter chapter this time around, but don't worry. Next one's gonna be a lot longer.**


	8. Act 1, Chapter 7

Makoto Naegi could be described in many ways. His favorite word to describe himself is _average_. For some reason, he was always adamant about this. His looks, his hobbies, his grades… all of it was average. He was _optimistic _\- no matter what kind of bad situation his luck puts him in, he always comes out at the other end smiling. It's almost as if nothing could affect him. In fact, he was so optimistic that some people say that he is _filled with hope_. During the first killing game, Naegi never even once thought about killing anyone. No matter what the motive was, Naegi wasn't tempted. Whenever one of his friends were down, he always did his best to cheer them up. On top of that, he always believed in his classmates. He had a large amount of faith placed in them, to the point where he could be called _naive_.

Naegi was optimistic, filled with hope, average, and even a little bit naive.

But he wasn't a traitor.

In this point in time, Naegi couldn't even begin to think about ever working for Monokuma. Besides, it wasn't as if Naegi could make a good mole for him either. He was always terrible at lying, giving away thousands of tells whenever he does.

Despite all of this…

"M-Me?!" Naegi steps back in shock, mouth gaping. Naegi thought that he would be prepared for whoever the spy was. He was sure that whoever was working for Monokuma would have a perfectly good reason for doing so - perhaps their family was taken hostage, like how Ogami's dojo was.

But instead of revealing a traitor, Monokuma had said his name. Monokuma had labeled him as a traitor. Monokuma was lying… but it wasn't so surprising. In retrospect, Naegi should have seen this coming. Whenever Monokuma started to get backed into a corner, he would always do something underhanded. Whether that would be planting a dead body, (like with Ikusaba) or hiding a crucial piece of evidence, (like with Ogami's suicide note) he wasn't afraid to cheat.

So when Monokuma had given out several motives but with no results, then… It wasn't surprising that he would pull something like this.

"Puhuhuhuhu! That's right! In fact, from the very start of this whole game, Naegi had been working for me! Isn't that sweet?" Monokuma twirls his wooden stick in his paws, giggling to himself.

"What the hell?! Naegi's a spy?" Owada's head snaps to Naegi as his eyes bulge out in shock.

"No way!" Asahina says desperately. "That has to be a lie!"

"In defense of Naegi, I had neve seen or heard of him when I was still working with Monokuma." Ogami says, placing a gentle hand on Asahina's shoulder.

"I can't say that I'm surprised that Monokuma would make this move." Togami rolls his eyes in contempt. Unlike everyone else, he didn't seem shocked at the new motive Monokuma had given them. "Naegi obviously knew more than any of us. That was proven when he was somehow able to push Ikusaba out of the way."

"Kill the traitor!" Fukawa hisses while backing up from Naegi, giving him an evil look.

"He's not a traitor!" Maizono shouts angrily. "I would sooner believe that Hagakure has a college degree then believe that Naegi would ever work as a spy!"

"Hey!" Hagakure protests.

Ikusaba delivers a chilling glare to Monokuma. "Naegi-"

"HEY HEY HEY!" The monochrome bear interrupts Ikusaba before she could even get past her first word. "Remember the new rule! Or do you feel like going through another execution?"

"..." Ikusaba closes her mouth, but kept her murderous glare trained on Monokuma.

"Oh boy! If looks could kill, I would be bear steak by now!" Monokuma chuckles. "Anyway, I would also like to present a freebie perk!"

"F-Freebie?" Hagakure's head perks up.

"Don't look so interested man!"

"Puhuhuhuhu! No, be super interested because this is a good one!" Monokuma guffaws. "Anyone who kills Makoto Naegi graduates right away! No trial, no investigation, you get out of here completely free! No strings attached!"

Each word felt like a cold knife, stabbing itself into Naegi's heart. Monokuma really wanted him dead that badly?

"Do what you will with these motives! Puhuhuhuhuhuhu!"

…

"G-Guys, I-" Naegi pipes up feebly. But before he could choke out an explanation, Yamada interrupts him.

"Mr. Naegi. You don't need to explain. I trust you way more than that dumb bear!" The otaku grins confidently.

"Huh?" Naegi blinked owlishly.

"No way someone like you could be working for Monokuma! He just wants to get rid of you, that's clear to see!"

"That's right!" Maizono practically shouts. "I believe in Naegi! There's no way that he would be a traitor!"

Ikusaba keeps silent, but she nods firmly.

"I admit, the chances of Naegi working for Monokuma is unbelievably low. I wouldn't bet a single chip on him being a traitor."

"The day Naegi is a traitor is the day I give up donuts!"

"..." The cold knife that was embedded into his heart slowly melts away as a deep warmth begins to fill him from head to toe. His friends were stepping up for him… they believed in him!

"Hey, what the hell are you kids talking about?" Monokuma raises his claws angrily, shooting daggers at everyone. "He's a traitor!"

"I will side with Hina. I must say that Naegi has been acting the least suspicious out of anyone here."

"Yeah dude! Naegs is a nice guy, you know?"

"I-I believe in Naegi. He's our friend!"

"You want me to believe Naegi's a fuckin traitor? That's dumb as shit!"

"Naegi's a cool guy. Someone like him wouldn't backstab us!"

"To suggest that a model student such as Naegi is working for Monokuma… It's impossible!"

"... I believe in him."

In a fit of rage, Monokuma snaps his wooden stick in half and begins chewing on it. His razor sharp teeth tears it apart, sending wooden chips everywhere. "Graaagh! Why is Togami the only one here that sees any sense?!"

"Y-Yeah!" Fukawa says. "N-Naegi's a traitor!"

"Hmph. While I believe that Naegi is hiding something, I think that it's rather preposterous to suggest that he's working with you. Why would you want him dead so badly if he was?" Togami smirks and crosses his arms. "This attempt at causing distortion and confusion within the group… is completely pathetic."

"Oh, Master Togami!" Fukawa swoons, drooling all over herself. "So upstanding… Of course Naegi wouldn't be a traitor!"

"Do not come within 10 meteres of me, you perverted pig."

"... Puhuhuhu!" Unexpectedly, Monokuma starts cackling. "As it stands, the free kill perk is still up for grabs! You say that you guys are friends, but I wonder how long Naegi will last? Puhuhuhuhu!"

With that last laugh, Monokuma vanishes.

"Listen up!" Owada shouts, smashing his fists together. "If you wanna kill Naegi, you gotta get through me first!"

"Yes, I will make efforts to ensure Naegi's safety as well." Ogami says in a low tone.

"If anyone dares to even _touch _him…" While Ikusaba didn't finish her sentence, the fact that she was holding up a dangerously sharp knife did plenty to convey her message.

"A-All of you… I don't know what to say." Seeing all of his friends, even Togami stand up for him moved Naegi greatly. It made it feel like saving all of them was truly worth it. "All I can say is... thank you all for believing in me. Honestly, I appreciate it!"

_*ding dong bing bong*_

"Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then… sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!"

"I suppose we will have to discuss our findings about the new floor tomorrow." Kirigiri says simply.

"Ah… Yeah, good night everyone." Fujisaki looks down sadly and bites his lip.

Owada notices this. "Fujisaki? Something wrong?" He looks down at the petite programmer who seemed a bit downcast.

"Oh, no. Everything's fine." Fujisaki smiles as he nods reassuringly.

And everything was fine. Ikusaba said that Monokuma might know about the laptop, but so far, nothing happened.

Everything was fine.

_And everything will BE fine._

* * *

As soon as everyone leaves, Naegi makes a direct bee line to the locker rooms. He had promised to tell Kirigiri everything after all. Even with all of the excitement, he hadn't forgotten this. Since it was past night, no one was in the halls.

Despite the fact that Naegi was the most likely target for the next murder due to the two motives, he felt ecstatic. Hee had been slightly more distant this time around, skipping conversations and not spending as much time bonding with other people. He had been too focused on trying to save everyone.

So when Monokuma announced that he was a traitor, and that whoever kills him will get away scot-free…

Well, he had begun to panic a bit.

But seeing all of his friends stand up for him like that in front of Monokuma… it actually nearly brought tears to his eyes. That scene only served to encourage Naegi further. He had no idea how or why he was given a second chance at the killing game, but hell if he wasn't going to take advantage.

"I've been waiting. For a second, I thought that you may have skipped out on me." A familiar cold voice reaches Naegi's ears.

"Oh! Kirigiri!" Naegi quickly walks up to greet her with his usual smile.

Kirigiri was sitting on a bench, with one leg crossed over the other. From the looks of it, she had been waiting in the changing room for at least a few minutes. Despite Naegi going straight to the locker rooms, it seemed that she had somehow beaten him here.

"Ah… Sorry if I kept you waiting."

Kirigiri shakes her head. "I haven't been here for long. I just hope that you will deliver on your promise from this morning."

Naegi nods and begins his explanation in a quiet voice, as if someone might have been eavesdropping on him.

He told her everything. He wasn't planning on telling her too much about the first killing game, but she ended up throwing what seemed like hundreds of questions at him, so he ended up spilling nearly everything he could remember.

The deaths of his fellow classmates.

The trials that followed.

Investigations.

The outside world.

The last trial.

Junko Enoshima.

The fact that he had come here from the future.

By the time Naegi finishes, he was out of breath. "I… _*huff* _think that's about everything."

Kirigiri doesn't respond, instead opting to close her eyes. She looked as if she were deep in thought (which she probably was).

…

Several minutes pass and Kyoko had barely moved a single inch.

…

"Um, Kirigiri?"

…

"That was the most absurd, most dumb, most foolish story I have ever heard in my entire life."

"What?!" Whatever response Naegi had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. She had been thinking for so long, just to end up telling him that his story was dumb?

"It's insane." Kirigiri looks into his eyes unflinchingly.

"But it's all true!" Naegi protests. "You have to believe me!"

"I never said that I didn't believe you."

"Huh?"

Kirigiri stands up from the bench and smoothes out her skirt. "It may be a ridiculously crazy story, but nothing you have described was impossible. In fact, I think that most of what you said was so absurd that it's actually believable.

"Kirigiri…" Naegi beams at her with gratitude. "Thank you for trusting in me!"

"Sure." Kirigiri brushes off his thanks with a single word. "Just promise me one thing."

"What is it?"

"If the time comes, let me press the button to open the door."

The luckster stares at her in confusion. Why does she want to do that? It was an oddly specific request, but it wasn't as if he had a reason to refuse. "Ummm, sure… I guess."

"Don't worry Naegi. It's just a precaution."

"A precaution?" Naegi echoes.

"Yes." Kirigiri stares at him with a blank look, not offering to give up any further explanation.

…

"Uh-"

"Have a good night." The detective says briefly before turning around and promptly leaving the locker room.

…

_No matter how many times I talk with her, Kirigiri's going to always remain a mystery to me, huh?_

* * *

Junko Enoshima was SURE that Naegi would die eventually. She didn't really know or care who would be the one to pull the trigger - she just knew with certainty that he would be killed. I mean, it would literally be a free pass to escape from this place! Any sane person would take advantage of the motive.

"Puhuhuhu!" On the first night after revealing the motives, Junko couldn't help but giggle to herself in excitement. Maybe he wouldn't die tonight, but sooner or later, his death will come! Then, everyone will feel despair. She was in ecstasy from just thinking about it. Ah, how satisfying it would be to spit on the corpse of that hope boy!

In fact, she was so excited about the motive that she realised that she had forgotten about something very important.

"Ah, shit!" Junko jumps out of her chair and grabs a disguise - a mask as well as a long lab coat. It wasn't exactly fashionable, but she didn't really care about that right now. While she wraps the coat around herself, she opens one of the drawers next to her and pulls out a small blue sphere with a silver pin attached to it. As she pulls the mask over her face, she runs out of the room and goes straight to the locker rooms.

Going in, she carelessly pulls the pin on the sphere that she had brought with her and drops it in the middle of the room.

_*BZZT*_

A soft buzzing noise emanates from a locker directly in front of her.

Grinning, she promptly tosses the locker open and grabs the item inside - a laptop that was completely shut off. The sphere that she had just thrown was an EMP grenade. She had to shut off the laptop so that Alter Ego wouldn't start screaming his head off. This morning, along with the two motives she had set, she was supposed to 'execute' Alter Ego in front of everyone. But she was so caught with excitement that she had completely forgotten.

"Oh well." Junko shrugs as she turns around and begins to run back to her room. "I guess I can execute Alter Ego as a replacement for whoever ends up killing Naegi! Puhuhuhu!"

* * *

One day passes. Naegi doesn't die.

Two days pass. Naegi doesn't die.

Three days pass. Naegi doesn't die.

Ten days pass. Naegi doesn't die.

Two full weeks, or fourteen days pass and Naegi isn't dead. In fact, as far as Junkow knew, no one even _tried _to kill him.

_Bored._

_boredboredboredboredboredboredboredboredbored_

"Gah!" Junko yells, smashing her fists on top of Fujisaki's laptop, which was currently shut off. Nothing was happening. This wasn't despairful at all!

It wasn't even hopeful. If it had been hopeful, then at least Junko could have despaired in the fact that she had created hope with this motive. But there was no hope or despair. It was just plain boring. Watching these dumb people having fun, socializing like normal teenagers…

Sickening.

Maybe it was time for some direct interference.

* * *

It was exactly one AM, a couple of hours past the initial night time announcement. Double, triple, and even quadruple checking the cameras, Junko made sure that everything would go smoothly before going out.

Naegi was an extreme annoyance. Sure, he had potential for a truck-load of despair, but right now, his hope was just getting ridiculous. How Naegi wasn't instantly torn into shreds the moment she announced the motives, Junko will never know. She would rather jeopardize her plan then let Naegi live for another day. Besides, maybe his death would actually help speed things along.

Donning her mask and lab coat, Junko also picks out an oversized knife. Exiting the Data Processing Room, she makes a bee-line right to Naegi's room. Tentatively, she tries the door knob.

_*wiggle wiggle*_

Of course it was unlocked.

_Naegi, you naive bastard._

Grinning to herself, Junko practically skips into Naegi's open room and takes a quick look around.

His room was messy - but not too messy. A couple of things were strewn on the floor, mostly things he had gotten from redeeming Monokuma tokens and random pieces of clothing. Curiously, she walks over to his desk and opens the drawer. To her surprise, there were about a dozen pairs of different underwear in it.

_Why the hell does he have so many different pairs of underwear?! There's even a pair that kind of looks like Muku's bulletproof panties…_

…

"Naegi's such a player!" Junko whispers to herself.

On the desk itself, there were several library books that lay open, as if he were studying for something. Overall, his room was what you would expect from an average high school student. Unorganized and unkept, but certainly not an actual mess.

Nodding to herself, she moved in to the target. Peacefully sleeping, blissfully ignorant…

Makoto Naegi.

"Say your prayers, ahoge boy." Junko says in a normal volume as she pulls her knife up. "Prepare to die!"

Then, Junko's vision goes black.

* * *

"Naegi… Naegi!"

A high pitched voice kept calling out to Naegi. Frankly, all Naegi wanted to do was sleep. Who the hell was calling him this early? The morning announcement hadn't even played yet.

"Naegi!"

"Ugh…" Naegi groans and opens his eyes a bit. "Five more minu - GAH!"

Jumping out of his bed, Naegi immediately backs to a corner. Whatever drowsiness Naegi had was instantly replaced with fear and panic.

"Oh, Naegi! You finally woke up." Monokuma stands in the middle of his room, standing strangely still.

"M-Monokuma! Why are you in my room?!"

"Don't worry about it. I'm Ikusaba, not Junko."

…

"W-What? Ikusaba?" Naegi cautiously takes a step forward, staring at the bear suspiciously. "How are you…"

"Ah, here. This should help." As soon as she finishes her sentence, a strange garbled noise starts emanating from Monokuma, causing Naegi to flinch heavily. The noise was extremely unpleasant to his ears and did well to give him a morning headache.

"What.." Naegi winces. "What is that?"

"Ahem. Testing, one, two, three. Naegi, can you hear me?" The strange noise abruptly cuts out and is replaced with a familiar voice.

"Ikusaba!" Naegi exclaims. "Uh, yeah I can hear you! In your normal voice too."

"Okay, good. Come to the gymnasium. Everyone else is gathered there. I will explain the situation once you arrive."

And with that, Monokuma vanishes.

"If Ikusaba is controlling Monokuma… then what happened to Junko?" Naegi ponders to himself as he begins to walk to the gym.

* * *

As soon as Naegi enters the gym, he instantly notices that his classmates were all crowded around something. They all formed a tight circle around something, as if intentionally blocking it from anyone else's view.

"Oh, Naegi. There you are." Togami gives his usual glare to Naegi as he enters the gym. "Once again, you're late."

Muttering an apology, Naegi made his way to the circle.

And in the middle of it, a certain blonde fashionista was tied up and unconscious. For some reason, she was wearing an oversized lab coat. Next to her, an odd looking mask lay.

"Wha… Junko?!" Naegi recoils slightly.

"Indeed. We were discussing theories on what she's doing here." Togami says.

"Dude! It's the aliens!" Hagakure waves his hands around in terror. "I've seen this many, many times before! First, they abduct you by sucking you up into their UFO. Then, they do all sorts of crazy surgery on your body! In fact, they even stick up various electric rods up your-"

"Hagakure. Enough." Kirigiri's sharp retort quickly cuts Hagakure's story short.

"S-Sorry."

"Did I keep everyone waiting? I apologize." Ikusaba's voice is heard coming from the gym entrance.

"Oh, hey Mukuro!" Asahina turns around, a hand already up in the are for a pre-emptive wave. But as she looks, her expression suddenly turns into one of bewilderment. "Wait, Monokuma?!"

"Yep. I took over control of Monokuma."

"Woah, really?!" Owada gives her a huge grin. "That means we can get out of here, right?"

"Not so fast." Togami turns to face Monokuma as well. "I would like an explanation."

Monokuma waddles over to the group. The sound of Ikusaba taking a deep breath is heard from the bear.

"Junko Enoshima is the mastermind of this whole killing game. For some reason, Junko had decided that she _really _wants Naegi dead. This was pretty obvious by her most recent motive. But when Naegi didn't die, even after two weeks, she got frustrated and decided to take matters into her own hands."

"Into her own hands?" Naegi's eyes widen. "Don't tell me she was going to…"

"Yeah. She was going to _kill _you and frame someone else for it." Ikusaba's voice hitches slightly on the word kill. "However, ever since Junko had announced that motive, I have been hiding outside of your room, keeping watch during the night."

"You were watching me every night for the past two weeks?!" Naegi asks incredulously. "Didn't you get sleepy or something?"

"I slept during the days."

"Ikusaba…" Naegi shakes his head, amazed. "You saved my life! Thank you!"

"I-It was nothing." Ikusaba's voice stutters a bit as Naegi gives the bear a shining grin.

"There are questions in each of our rooms. How come Junko didn't take any suspicion of that?" Unexpectedly, it was Maizono who raised this question.

"Huh? Oh, I just made a fake body and tucked it into my bed. The cameras aren't super high quality, so I guess it was enough to fool her."

Maizono nods, but she was still unconvinced. Junko didn't notice for the whole two weeks? It seemed like a pretty glaring oversight from the apparent mastermind.

"Anyway…" Ikusaba says, tone darkening considerably. "Before you all can leave, there's two major decisions to be made."

"Huh? What now?" Kuwata asks impatiently.

"First of all, what are you going to do with Junko? Kill her? Imprison her? Take her with you?"

"Obviously kill her. The mastermind can not be allowed to live." Togami sneers disdainfully at the knocked out fashionista.

"H-Hey, I don't think we should rush straight into killing her…" Fujisaki weakly objects.

"You guys can decide later if you want." Ikusaba comments. "The second decision is whether or not you really want to get out of here."

"What? Of course we wanna get out of here!"

"Yeah! That's all we wanted since this shit started!"

"Why wouldn't I want to get out of this filthy school?"

"Let me explain." Monokuma claps his paws together and suddenly, several monitors pop up from the floor. On it, were pictures of the outside world.

"W-What the hell?" Owada could only gape at the sight.

"What is this?!" Asahina gasps and puts her hands over her mouth.

Monokuma robots attacking everyone…

Chaos and destruction…

Buildings collapsing…

A bloody red sky…

"I know this is a lot to take in, but this is needed for you guys to make your choice." Ikusaba says.

"Ugh, my head hurts…" Kuwata groans. "What the hell's happening?"

"My head's hurting too." Fujisaki says, wincing. A few seconds later, his eyes suddenly widen. "H-Hey, wait a minute…"

"I have implanted a special light into these monitors. These lights are called flashback lights. They are designed to help you recover your memories. Junko had removed the past two years of your memory before throwing you into this game, believe it or not."

"Impossible…" Togami mutters as a dull pain throbs in his head.

"In about ten seconds, your memories will be fully restored. I hope that you guys can make the right decision."

Like everyone else, Naegi was also feeling a sharp headache. It felt familiar - almost like the pain he had gone through after waking up in that desk for the second time.

Then, in a single blink, he remembers.

In the same blink, everyone else remembers.

They remember the past two years.

The promises they made.

The outside world.

Their decision to stay here.

Everything is remembered.

…

"We… We were the ones who locked ourselves in here." Naegi mutters. He had already known this - it was one of the many things that he and the other surviving students had to solve in the first killing game in order to defeat Monokuma. Still, it was pretty jarring to remember that he had really agreed to stay in this place.

"Yeah, we even talked to the principal about it! Where is he? He's supposed to be here with us!" Kuwawta says, frantically looking around. "Wait, don't tell me that he's the mastermind?!"

"I mentioned this before… Junko is the mastermind." Ikusaba says.

"My father… Ikusaba, where is he?" Kirigiri, who seemed unfazed by the events so far glances at Monokuma.

"Dead. He was executed by Junko before the killing game had even started."

"... I see." Kirigiri looks down at the floor. Truth be told, she was expecting that answer. Naegi had hesitantly told her about her father's fate back in the locker rooms. Back then, it seemed surreal. Naegi, a time traveler sent back from the future? And he said that her father was dead and that the world was in an apocalyptic state? But Ikusaba had just confirmed it for her - Jin Kirigiri was dead.

Her memories also confirmed that the outside world was in a deep pit of chaos, and that most of her family was likely dead. In fact, her memories had confirmed everything that Naegi had told her about the events leading up to the killing game.

Unless Naegi was actually working for Junko… Unless Naegi was an outstanding actor who could not only hide his emotions, but also fake them… Unless Naegi had bypassed the memory erasure…

_Then he really did travel through time._

"Junko had synced the air purifiers in this building with her own life. If she dies, the air purifiers shut down." Ikusaba informs them.

"So if we kill Junko, we are forced to go back to the outside world. If we let her live, we can still make a choice on whether or not to stay here." Togami surmises.

"I for one, vote to let her live." Naegi interjects. He had an unusually determined look on his face. "She could be able to atone for her acts. We can bring her back from the clutches of despair."

"Um, Mr. Naegi?" Yamada tentatively raises a finger. "Are you sure that's the right choice? I mean, what if Ms. Enoshima tries to set us up in another killing game? I'm sure she has the means… I mean, she was able to set all of this up."

"Oh man…" Hagakure clutches his head with his hands as sweat began pouring down his face. "What are we supposed to do?!"

"Puhuhuhu…" An abrupt giggle interjects itself into their conversation. All at once, everyone falls silent and stares down at the previously unconscious fashionista. She was still laying down on the floor, and her makeup was smudging.

"Isn't it obvious?" Junko whispers weakly. "Kill me. I tried to force all of you to kill your own friends. Isn't execution the right thing to do here?"

"No, that's wrong!" The luckster shouts. "Everyone deserves a second chance. Even you!"

"No!" Junko shrieks, eyes bloodshot. "You can't take me away from despair! I WON'T LET YOU STEAL MY DESPAIR!"

Despite still being tightly bound in ropes, Junko manages to pull herself into a standing position. A small trickle of blood was running down the side of her head where Ikusaba had struck her. "Kill me. Face the despair! The entire world out there is completely _filled _with it… Let the despair of the human race DESTROY you!"

Naegi shakes his head. "What I think is the right thing to do is to keep Junko alive. I want to bring her out from despair - no one deserves to be like this. Together, we will all rebuild the world. We will water the seeds of hope planted within this world of despair!"

"Oh, come ON! Cut the upstanding shit!" Junko glares at Naegi with a look of distaste on her face. "Will you let this dumb ahoge kid boss you around?! I KILLED YOUR FAMILIES! I KILLED YOUR FRIENDS!"

"..."

"You! Togami!" Junko whirls around and comes face to face with the affluent prodigy with a sneer on her face. "You know your precious butler that was in your motive video? I personally tortured him. I saw his life leave his eyes. Don't you want to take revenge? You do, don't you?"

"..."

Twisting her head, Junko trains her eyes at Maizono. "Hey Maizono! You know your idol career that you worked so hard to build? I fucking _destroyed _it. I personally saw to it that your entire pop group was beheaded!"

"..."

Junko was starting to grin maniacally now. Her mouth stretched in an almost comedic fashion as she flashed her white teeth at everyone. Spinning around, Junko turns to look at Celeste. "I strangled the FUCK out of your dumb cat!"

"..."  
"Dude, this chick is seriously fucked up." Owada glares at Junko, clenching his fists.

"But we can't kill her!" Naegi protests. "Through the whole game, not a single one of us let her win. No murders happened! What would be the point if we killed her? That would just mean that the Killing Game would succeed in the end."

"Shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP!" Junko lunges at Naegi, screeching.

"Not so fast." Ogami grabs her out of the air and tosses her back onto the floor.

"Ugh…"

"Let's put it the a vote then." Ikusaba, who had been staying silent ever since Junko woke up, suddenly speaks up. "It would be the quickest and fairest way to decide this. So, is there anyone here who would like to let Junko live, and stay inside of this building?"

"..."

"Is there anyone here who would like to let Junko live, and go back to the outside world?"

Eleven hands shot up right away - Naegi, Kirigiri, Fujisaki, Owada, Ishimaru, Yamada, Ogami, Asahina, Maizono, Kuwata, and Hagakure.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDD-"

"Is there anyone here who would like to kill Junko, and go back to the outside world?"

After a small delay, three hands go up - Togami, Celeste, and Fukawa.

"... Fine. I would like to see nothing more then for Junko to pay for what she has done to me. I suppose it doesn't matter if that punishment is imprisonment rather than execution." Togami reluctantly concedes.

"How nice." Celeste giggles softly. "I share the same exact sentiment."

"I-I'm just voting for whatever Master T-Togami votes for…"

"So, this is everyone's choice?" Monokuma shifts around slightly. "I have to admit… I'm happy that my sister won't be a casualty. Even if she betrayed me, I still love her. Well, if the decision is made, I guess I'll make my way down there." With that, Monokuma abruptly shuts down. His red eye darkens and he falls limply onto the floor, like a puppet with its strings cut.

"J-Junko?" Fujisaki asks nervously. "Um… W-Where is Alter Ego?"

"Oh yeah!" Hagakure exclaims. "I forgot about that thing!"

"I fuckin threw it into a trash compactor!" Junko spits at Fujisaki, but her trajectory was off so it ended up just splattering onto the floor. "Your precious AI is dead!"

Of course, this wasn't true. She had hidden it away and was planning to destroy it in front of everyone after Naegi's trial. It would have served as a nice bonus of despair… but she never got the chance as Naegi ended up living anyway.

"N-No…" Fujisaki shakes his head as tears slowly started pouring down his eyes. "I… I can't believe it. Alter Ego is dead?"

"It's just a fuckin laptop!" Junko sticks her tongue out rudely. "Suck it up!"

"Hey…" Owada puts a hand on Fujisaki's shoulder. His voice was oddly soft. "Are you going to be alright, Fujisaki? I dunno much about computers but if you want, I can try to find the parts of the laptop before we leave. Maybe we can put it back together or something."

"No." Fujisaki slowly shakes his head. "It's fine. Let's just leave here as soon as possible."

Kirigiri gives him a small smile. "Then it's time. Let's face the outside world once again."

"NO NO NO!" Junko thrashes around, biting at the ropes binding her. "My beautiful despair! I won't even taste the despair of death?! This SUCKS!"

Ogami sighs as she bends down and picks up Junko in one arm. "You will atone for your sins, Junko Enoshima.

* * *

Once again, Naegi stands in front of the giant locked door. Once again, he is surrounded by his dear friends. They all face the door, breaths caught in their throats. The tension in the air was noticeably thick, but also light at the same time, somehow.

The only difference now is that more of his friends were standing by him this time.

No one had died.

He saved everyone.

Leon Kuwata, Mukuro Ikusaba, Sayaka Maizono, Chihiro Fujisaki, Mondo Owada, Ishimaru Kiyotaka, Hifumi Yamada, Celestia Ludenberg, Sakura Ogami… Naegi had even saved Junko Enoshima, the mastermind of the killing game.

"Here you go, Kirigiri." As promised, Naegi hands the switch that unlocked the door to Kirigiri. "I still don't know how this is a precaution though."

"Hopefully you never will." Kirigiri says cryptically.

Suddenly, someone steps up next to Naegi. It was Ikusaba - somehow, even in the quiet empty hall, no one had heard her walk up to them.

"Oh, Ikusaba! You're here!" Naegi smiles brightly as the Ultimate Soldier joins the 78th class.

Blushing slightly, Ikusaba nods. "I'm ready. L-Let's go."

"Oh my FUCKING god, sis. Will you just ask him out already? Aren't soldiers supposed to be _brave_?" Junko snickers, still tied up and being carried around by Ogami. "Claim him before someone else does!"

"J-Junko!"

"I noticed that you didn't vote back when we were deciding what to do." Naegi says, purposefully changing the subject. "Why is that?"

"Oh… Well, I wouldn't be able to do something like decide my sister's fate."

"I suppose that's fair." Celeste nods understandingly. "Holding the life of a family member in your hands can be gut-wrenching."

"Well…" Kirigiri clears her throat as she scans the small crowd. "Does anyone have objections? This is your last chance, really."

"Kill me."

Other then Junko's blunt comment, no one raises any objections.

"Very well."

Naegi closes his eyes, satisfied.

_I stopped Maizono from trying to kill Leon…_

_I pushed Ikusaba out of the way of the spears…_

_I kept Owada's temper in check…_

_I managed to put a stop to Celeste's plans…_

_Ogami didn't try to commit suicide…_

It was finally done. His long journey really was over. It had been a mentally taxing ordeal, but Naegi would happily do it over again, if it meant saving his friends. It was all worth it.

"It's time." Kirigiri puts her finger over the button.

No one noticed how Junko was grinning sadistically at Naegi. Despite the posistion she was in, her expression was one of truimph and satisfaction.

…

Kirigiri presses the button.

The door opens.

A piercing bright light fills the room.


	9. Act 2, Chapter 1

"_What's that supposed to mean?"_

"_It means what it means. Despair is stronger in the end."_

"_Just in the end, hm?"_

"_Yes. Hope shines brightly at the start. Everyone starts with Hope. Even you started with Hope._

"_But the more Hope there is, the more potential for Despair?"_

"_Yes. However, Despair can be turned into Hope as well. If you bring someone out of Despair and give them Hope, they may shine even brighter than before."_

"_..."_

"_But it's easy to break them. Someone who is brought back from Despair is extremely easy to break. All it takes is a small push."_

"_..."_

"_And when they break, there will be even more Despair."_

* * *

_Act Two_

_Transmutation of Philosophies_

"_Back and forth… Wherever there's hope, there's always despair."_

_\- Junko Enoshima_

* * *

**The 3rd Killing School Game.**

Pain.

This is what Makoto Naegi is currently feeling. He was suffering from a headache that was so bad that Naegi thought his head was surely being split into two. It was as if an iron pike was being stabbed into his brain.

_What…?_

The last thing he remembered was standing with all of his friends, in front of the main door. Everyone was alive, including Ikusaba and Junko. They were going to move forward and face the world. The world was caught in a whirlpool of despair, but Naegi knew it could be saved. He knew that if they all worked together, hope would shine through again.

But…

_Why?_

As suddenly as it came, the headache stops. Once again, all that remained was a subtle feeling of drowsiness. His body buzzed unpleasantly as Naegi pulls his head up from his arms to observe his surroundings.

He was in a familiar room with bolted windows. In the room, there were several desks and a security camera. A small string of drool had been going down the side of his mouth. Inside of the desk he had been sitting at, there was a messily drawn pamphlet.

It was happening again.

Trembling slightly, Naegi stands up a bit too quickly and almost trips over his own feet. As he regains his balance, he slowly makes his way to the main hall. What he would do once he got there, he had no idea. But where else would he go?

* * *

"What do you want, ahoge boy?" Ikusaba, still disguised as Junko, rolls her eyes. Naegi had pulled her aside so that they could talk alone. Since Ikusaba was close to Junko, telling her about his situation early could serve to be advantageous. He needed to find out what was going on. In his head, he had somehow come up with something that resembled a plan. The confusion and panic that had clouded his mind when he first woke up was replaced with a strong determination.

First, he would talk to Ikusaba and Kirigiri. They were the people he had told about his time travelling stunt in the second Killing Game. From what Naegi could tell, he could trust them. Kirigiri was extremely smart and had repeatedly helped him over both of the Killing Games he had been in. She had seen many clues that Naegi had completely missed and he knew that she would be a huge help.

While Ikusaba was an accomplice for Junko, she had taken his side once Junko had betrayed her. He was sure that once he explained what was going to happen, she would be willing to help him. Not only was she a talented fighter, but she also knew all of the details and inner workings of Junko's plan.

"Look, Ikusaba." Ikusaba's eyes widen as she hears her name. "Junko is planning to-"

_!_

Suddenly, searing hot pain spreads through Naegi's body. The pain burst out from his stomach and completely filled him, blindingly white agony pumping through his veins. It was as if someone had run him through with a hot poker. Slowly, Naegi looks down. A serrated combat knife was sticking out of him.

Naegi collapses on the floor, hands reflexively grasping his wound. He tries to scream. He wants to scream. But he can't. Again and again, waves of pain wracked his body. But it wasn't hot anymore - the pain was cold. So, very cold. Blood spilled everywhere. On his fingers, on the floor, on his clothes…

On Ikusaba.

She was nothing.

Her eyes were blank.

From what he could tell, there was absolutely no emotion on her face. It was impossible to think that this was the same Ikusaba that he had interacted with during the school years and the second Killing Game. The Ikusaba he knew was painfully shy and had a hard time talking to people. Despite this, he knew that she cared about her friends. She was someone precious to Naegi, one of his best friends.

This wasn't her.

The Ikusaba who was standing over him wasn't Ikusaba at all.

_blood why is there blood what happened_

It was obvious what happened. Ikusaba had stabbed him. Or was it Ikusaba?

Naegi couldn't see very clearly. At first he thought that maybe it was because of the pain coursing through him. But as a hot liquid began to pour down his cheeks, he realised that he was crying. He didn't even notice.

Through his blurred vision, all he saw was Junko.

_JunkoJunkoJunkoJunkoJunko_

Was it possible that this wasn't Ikusaba? Was it possible that for some reason, she hadn't disguised herself as Junko?

Was it possible that Junko had stabbed him?

Naegi groans pitifully as something hot ejects itself from his mouth. It seared his throat and filled his nostrils on the way out, leaving behind the taste and smell of rusty copper. The sensation was almost unbearable. Vision darkening, Naegi shifts his gaze downwards.

All he saw was pink. It filled his eyes, threatening to completely overwhelm him.

"J-Junko…?" Naegi asks weakly, still writhing in pain on the floor.

"Mission compromised…" Ikusaba didn't even look down, instead stepping over Naegi's body while muttering to herself. "I need to tell Junko right away."

How naive. The Killing Games were being replayed scene by scene - it had to be replayed, as Naegi was just time traveling backwards. It was impossible to think that it was Junko who stabbed him.

Nope.

It was Ikusaba.

It was Ikusaba and she just stepped over him like he was nothing. He probably _was _nothing in her eyes. Nothing but a potential threat to Junko. Naegi had known Ikusaba for years, and she just stabbed him with no hesitation.

_What was I thinking? _

Confronting Ikusaba like this was reckless. He knew this now. Even if she didn't stab him, she probably wouldn't have believed him anyway. Junko was the most important person in her life - why would she believe Naegi, especially if he told her that he was a time traveler?

No. Trying to do something like this was just stupid.

Naegi was going to die. As this dawned upon him, his eyes widen in terror. Even doing something as insignificant as widening his eyes caused fresh waves of agony to overtake him. Why was this happening to him?

_We were going to get out of here._

_I had a second chance. I saved my friends._

He went through so much, only to die here? Like this? Stabbed by one of the people that he wanted so desperately to save?

Shaking violently, Naegi could only spit out more blood and cry weakly as life drains from his body. He didn't even have the strength to open his eyes. It felt like there were giant weights on all of his limbs.

…

Makoto Naegi becomes the first victim of the Killing School Game.

* * *

**The 4th Killing School Game.**

Pain.

Once again, this is what Makoto Naegi is currently feeling. He was suffering from a headache that was so bad that Naegi thought his head was surely being split into two. It was as if an iron pike was being stabbed into his brain.

Naegi had died. He saw his own blood seep away from his body. He felt his life get torn away from him.

He died.

_I died._

Naegi had experienced death - that much was obvious.

And yet, here he was.

He had woken up on a desk, with his head burrowed within his arms. This desk was in a room, one with a security camera, a shoddy pamphlet, and bolted windows. The overwhelming pain that had consumed him just a moment ago was completely gone, leaving behind only a memory.

A shiver runs down Naegi's spine as he recalls Ikusaba. How she had just stood there, watching him bleed out without a care in the world.

Not a care in the world… no, that wasn't true. She still cared for Junko.

_I don't think I will ever be able to see Ikusaba in the same way ever again._

* * *

In hindsight, Naegi probably should have contacted Kirigiri first. She was smarter then he was, and would have probably known to not rush into talking to Ikusaba. There was always the chance that she wouldn't believe him, but at least she wouldn't pull a knife out of nowhere and stab him.

"What do you need to talk to me about?" Kirigiri stares at him curiously.

Sighing, Naegi scratches his cheek and looks down at the floor. "Well… Look, I know this sounds crazy, but it's the truth. I'm from the future. I'm pretty sure I time traveled here."

…

Without even saying a word, Kirigiri spins on her heel and tries to walk away. Key word being tries - Naegi snatches her arm and pulls her to him. But as soon as he does, Kirigiri shoves him backwards. She shoves him _hard_. So hard that Naegi falls backwards and onto the floor.

"Ack!"

"Don't touch me." Kirigiri says icily, already walking away from him. "And don't try to talk to me again."

"Look, I can prove it!" Naegi winces as he sits up. "You have amnesia, right? You don't even remember your own talent."

"..." Kirigiri blinks in mild surprise. In her mind, she had already pinned Naegi down as a rambling idiot, one who was probably delusional. What else could you expect from someone who walks up to you and randomly says that they were a time traveler? But when Naegi revealed that he knew that she had amnesia…

She walks back to where Naegi was sitting.

"Tell me more."

"Alright…" Naegi stands back up and clears his throat. "Soon, we will be called into the gymnasium. There, a bear called Monokuma will pop up and tell us that we will be forced to kill each other if we want to escape from this place."

"..."  
"There, Owada will get really angry and pick up Monokuma. From there, it will start beeping, hinting that it will self destruct. When that happened, you told him to throw it away. He does, and it blows up in the air."

"That's enough." Kirigiri puts her hand up, signaling for him to stop. "If those two last events come to pass, perhaps I will be inclined to listen to you some more. But as of right now, I think that your a lunatic. So give me some space."

With that last scalding remark, Kirigiri swiftly disappears, leaving an exasperated Naegi behind.

… _I guess I should reintroduce myself to everyone. It would be sort of suspicious if I was the only one who doesn't bother with introductions._

Of course, Naegi knows each person here extremely well. He could even consider himself close with Junko, the mastermind herself. Not only had he gone through the Killing Game twice, (three if you count the time he was killed) but he also has the memories of their school years together. To be frank, introductions really weren't necessary for Naegi.

_Wouldn't hurt to talk to them some more, though._

* * *

"Hi, I'm Sayaka Maizono. I look forward to getting to know you!"

Naegi nods in response. "I'm Makoto Naegi. We went to junior high together, didn't we? You were in my class."

Maizono's expression brightens. "So that's where I recognize you from! I remember you."

Back when Naegi had started his first semester at Hope's Peak, Maizono had brought up that they went to the same school before. In fact, that was what prompted her to approach him and try to start a friendship.

_Kind of funny how two people from the same class both ended up getting invited to a school like Hope's Peak…_

Suddenly, Maizono's expression turns slightly downcast. "You… You knew that I recognized you, huh?"

"Huh?"

_Maizono acts kind of ditzy at times, but she's actually really sharp… I keep forgetting about that._

"You see, I'm an esper!

Naegi grins cheekily. Maybe he should pull Maizono's own joke against her. "But it's just intuition, right?"

Maizono's expression shifts once again as she starts looking at Naegi with suspicion. She generally did this type of introduction to everyone she met for the first time. Every single time, they always reacted the same way. First, they react with confusion. Then we she said that she was an esper, they reacted with surprise.

But… Naegi was the first one to break the pattern. He had turned the tables on her, which had never happened before.

"How did you know that?"

"Just some intuition of my own."

"Hey, you two!" A loud and slightly strained voice abruptly breaks their conversation. Jumping at the sudden interruption, Maizono and Naegi both turn to Ishimaru. He was looking at them with a look of clear disappointment on his face.

"Jeez, you guys! How long do you plan to waste our valuable time with this ridiculous back-and-forth?! This is the time for introductions, not idle chit-chat!"

"S-Sorry about that… See you later, Naegi." Maizono gives him one more smile before walking off to introduce herself to someone else.

Naegi sighs and looks around.

_Two down, thirteen to go…_

* * *

"Yo! The name's Leon Kuwata. What's up?" The baseball star poses in an exaggerated manner, holding both of his fists up.

"Hey. I'm Makoto Naegi. You're the Ultimate Baseball Player, right? I've seen you on some magazines before."

Kuwata's eyebrows scrunch up as soon as Naegi says the world 'magazines'. "Hope you weren't expecting a shaved head or anything. Did you see that picture of me playing baseball? Aw man, I hate that picture.

Naegi nods sympathetically. "It sucks how shaving your head is a part of the championship regulations."

"Yeah, that's right!" Kuwata looks at Naegi with a pleasantly surprised expression. Practically _no one _knew that rule. Even some of the most die-hard baseball fans didn't know that. "I'm kinda shocked that a kid like you would know that! You don't really look like the sporty type, ya know?"

Looking around, Kuwata suddenly drops his voice to a whisper. "Wanna know a secret? I've never gone to practice. Ever. Know why? Cuz I freakin hate baseball!"

"Is that so?" Naegi taps his chin. "Maybe you should try to become a different Ultimate then. You kind of have a rock star look to you. You could be the Ultimate Musician or something."

Kuwata's eyes bulge out. "Woah kid You got that right on the money! I've been holding my musical talents recently."

"Smiling, Naegi nods. "Well, good luck with that Kuwata. See you later!"

"Yeah, see you kid. I think I'm gonna like you a lot!"

* * *

"I'm Kiyotaka Ishimaru. I believe in bold simplicity! Let's work together on our educational crusade!" Ishimaru shouts energetically. Even if Naegi wasn't a time traveler, he still could have guessed that this was what Ishimaru would have said. He had shouted this introduction to everyone else here. Naegi had probably heard him say this a dozen times by now.

"Hey, I'm Makoto Naegi. Nice to meet you." Naegi responds.

"Same here! By the way, you can call me Taka if you wish. Makoto Naegi is a great name. You should thank your parents! Thank them by devoting your life to working hard every day! Life is worth every ounce of effort put into it!"

Naegi nods in agreement. "Right. People say that you must be born a genius to get far in life, but hard work and determination is better. Well, that's what I think anyway."

Ishimaru freezes in place.

For a few seconds, he just stands there standing completely still, gaping at the luckster with a shocked look in his eyes.

Then, Ishimaru quickly rushes forwards and grasps Naegi's hands, shaking it enthusiastically.

"RIght! You are completely right!" Ishimaru laughs, eyes sparkling. He looked like his energy had somehow doubled since he first started talking to Naegi. "You are one of the most upstanding students I've seen so far! I look forward to being your classmate!"

Naegi just nods softly. He had learned that trying to match Ishimaru's energy was practically impossible. It was better to just go with the flow when talking to him. "Same here.

* * *

"N-Not that you would remember my name anyway, but… Toko Fukawa." Fukawa mutters, avoiding eye contact.

Even though she always said nasty things to everyone, Naegi couldn't help but sort of feel sorry for Fukawa. He could only imagine what kind of childhood she must have had to become like this - chock full of social anxiety and self deprecation.

Smiling softly, Naegi raises his hand. "I'm Makoto Naegi. I'm actually a fan of your books, you know."

Gasping, Fukawa recoils. "W-What?! Y-You're just saying that to be polite!"

Naegi shakes his head. "So Lingers The Ocean was a great book. You should be proud of it! You deserve recognition for being such a talented writer."

"W-What?! Why are you praising me?! Just be honest, I'm a f-filthy creature! That's what you're really thinking, aren't you?!" Fukawa spits out, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "I-I bet you despise me!"

"I'm being honest, Fukawa. You're a good author, and you're definitely not a filthy creature!"

"Y-Your kindness! It's BURNING me!" Shrieking, Fukawa begins to pull at her pigtails. If you looked at her, you would have guessed that she was being tortured, not complimented.

"Um, Fukawa?" Naegi asks tentatively.

"AUGH!" Fukawa quickly runs away from him, screaming about how she was going to be melted by his words.

"I guess I should have known better." Naegi says to himself, smiling awkwardly.

* * *

"I am Hifumi Yamada. But if you want to call me by my nickname, 'The Alpha and the Omega' then I don't mind." Yamada says smugly, adjusting his glasses.

"I'm Makoto Naegi. Nice to meet you!"

"By the way… how much do you know about the 2D world?" Yamada stares intensely at Naegi, ready to judge his entire character based off of his response.

"I have enough knowledge to know that you're the Ultimate Fanfic Creator." Naegi says brightly. "And that you're famous for being at the center of a legendary event where you sold 10,000 copies of a single fan comic."

Puffing out his chest pridefully, Yamada nods. "Ah, so you've heard of my exploits! Very good Mr. Naegi, very good indeed!"

"I'm sure that in a way, your like Van Gogh, right? Underappreciated for your work."

"My my!" Yamada grins delightfully at Naegi. He seemed extremely pleased with himself, and for good reason - it wasn't every day that Yamada received praise like this. He mainly got told off for being 'creepy' or 'weird'. "You took the words right out of my mouth! If you're willing, Mr. Naegi, I would be willing to give you an apprenticeship! You show definite promise."

Naegi smiles sheepishly. "Oh really? I'll think about it."

"Yes, that's fine. I hope to work with you in the future, Mr. Naegi!"

* * *

"Name's Mondo Owada. Nice to fuckin meet ya." Owada grunts.

"Makoto Naegi. Likewise." Naegi replies nonchalantly.

Suddenly, Owada grins. "Ah, you look like a weak kid huh? But you seem to have some spunk in you. That's rare these days. Respect."

Naegi returns the grin with one of his own. "I think that I'm stronger than I look. Thanks though."

* * *

"Hey! Name's Junko Enoshima. Charmed, I'm sure." Ikusaba shoots him a peace sign along with a big toothed grin.

As Ikusaba 'introduces' herself to him, Naegi couldn't help but flinch a little. He knew that Ikusaba had no reason to kill him, but that could change at any minute. One wrong move and he could die again.

"Hey, um did I do something to offend you?" Ikusaba asks. "You have this weird expression on your face."

"Ah, no it's just… You seem different in real life. I'm guessing they use photoshop and stuff?" Naegi asks cautiously.

"Ohhh!" Ikusaba squeals excitedly. "You got that exactly right! It's totally normal these days to photoshop the crap out of cover photos. For some reason, people always get surprised when they hear that. It's a totally normal thing in the industry!"

"I figured that they would do stuff to make the eyes bigger and tweak the skin to look clearer." Naegi comments.

"Yup yup!" Ikusaba gives Naegi a proud smile. "You know, you're smarter than you look! I'm sure that we're gonna get along fine."

Naegi involuntarily winces. "... Same here."

* * *

"Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Chihiro Fujisaki." Fujisaki nervously twiddles her fingers as she introduces herself.

"I'm Makoto Naegi. What's up dude?"

"D-Dude?" Fujisaki's eyes widen marginally.

"Am I wrong?" Naegi asks as innocently as possible.

Fujisaki gasps, putting his hands over his mouth. Instantly, he began to panic. "H-How did you know?! A-Ah, please don't tell anyone! I'll do anything!"

"Oh, I won't. I'm sure that you have a good reason to dress up as a girl - I won't judge." Naegi gives Fujisaki a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone or start bullying you or anything."

"R-Really?" Fujisaki gives a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Naegi! You're really nice."

"Just remember that if you need to talk to anyone about your problem, I'm here."

Fujisaki timidly nods. "Okay. I'll keep that in mind!"

* * *

"Hello! I'm Makoto Naegi.

"Heya! I'm Aoi Asahina! But my friends just call me Hina. Sup?" Asahina smiles sweetly.

"Ah, Aoi Asahina. Got it." Naegi nods as he writes her name into his hands.

Asahina gasps and leans over to look into his hands. "You do that too?!"

Naegi glances up at her. "Huh? Oh, I just write names five times into my hand if I need to remember it."

"No way! I do that too!" Asahina giggles cheerfully as she writes his own name onto her hand. She somehow seemed even more energetic than she was before.

"It's N-A-E-G-I by the way."

"Oh, thanks a lot!" Asahina bobs her head up and down as she continues scribbling on her hand.

"You think this school has any donuts in the cafeteria?" Naegi suddenly asks. "They're like my favorite food.

"You like donuts too?!" Despite it being completely off topic, Asahina didn't seem bothered. In fact, she starts literally jumping in joy as her eyes shined brightly. "That's it, Naegi. You're gonna be my best friend here, no questions asked! Got it?!"

Naegi was a little taken aback by her sudden burst of energy. While he should be used to her antics by this point, he couldn't help but still be a little surprised. "A-Alright, got it."

"Good! See ya later Naegi!"

* * *

"I am Sakura Ogami." Ogami leers down at Naegi as she introduces herself.

"I'm Makoto Naegi. Nice to meet you!"

Out of nowhere, Ogami starts to poke and prod at various parts of his body. She seemed oddly serious as she did this.

"Ah, I'm afraid that my muscular quantity is pretty average. I don't think that I could serve to be your training partner."

Ogami pauses and looks at him with renewed interest. "You may not be that strong, but I see that your mind is sharp enough. You are very interesting, Naegi."

"Thanks! I look forward to getting to know you better." Naegi says, smiling.

Ogami nods before backing up.

"The feeling is mutual."

* * *

"Hey, I'm Makoto Naegi." Naegi says simply. Before Togami could even issue a response, Naegi turns around and begins to walk away.

"Wha - Where are you going?" Togami's sharp voice stops him before he could get to the next person.

Naegi glances back with a confused expression on his face. "Well you kind of looked like you were already sick of looking at me. So I just decided to introduce myself and get it over with as quickly as possible."

"... I suppose you're right." Togami concedes, though there was still a hint of indignation in his voice.

Naegi simply nods before turning back around.

Togami stares at the luckster with disdain, but also with curiosity. He had certainly piqued his interest. "Interesting…"

* * *

"I'm Yasuhiro Hagakure - Hiro for short! Take it easy, yeah?"

"I'm Makoto Naegi. What's up?"

…

"Ah, alright, I give up." Hagakure sighs heavily before throwing his hands up in the air dramatically. "Seriously."

"Oh?" Naegi tilts his head slightly.

"I saw it dude, right through it!"

Naegi puts a hand on his chin and smiles wryly. Hagakure had done this same exact introduction both in the first Killing Game and during the school year. "Let me guess: a guardian angel with a crazy perm chasing after Bigfoot?"

Bewildered, Hagakure just stares at Naegi for a long moment.

Then…

"Bwahahahaha!" Hagakure bellows loudly, slapping him roughly on the back. "You're good dude! But it was bigfoot with a skyfish in his mouth! Close, but no cigar!"

"Ah, shoot." Naegi smiles tentatively.

"Your a chill dude, Naegi. If you want, we can grab some brewskis and get real deep into the civilization of Lemuria sometime." Hagakure offers, nodding appreciatively.

"Ah, I'm a minor so I can't drink." Naegi points out.

"Oh, that's too bad." The clairvoyant frowns slightly. "Well, we can still hang out sometimes. Stay chill, won't ya?"

"Yeah, for sure."

* * *

"Hey, I don't think that we've been introduced. I'm Makoto Naegi."

"I am Celestia Ludenberg." The gambler responds in a stoic manner.

"Celestia Ludenberg, huh?" Naegi says, grinning. "That's a pretty name. I like it."

Celestia smiles with a hint of pride. "Why, thank you Naegi. I'm glad that someone appreciates it. You can call me Celeste, if you wish."

"Alright Celeste. I look forward to getting to know you better."

Celeste nods. "As do I."

* * *

As Naegi wraps up his introductions, he and the other students begin talking about their troubling predicament. They were all unsettled of course - the front door had a gigantic lock on it and they all woke up inside of the school with no memory of how they had gotten in. It was natural that they would be confused.

Naegi participated in the discussions of course, but he didn't try to add anything extra. It would only cast unnecessary suspicion upon him - that would be bad, especially with Ikusaba listening in. If she found out that he knew about Junko's plan, then…

_I might get killed... Again._

Then, as the conversation starts to wane…

_*ding dong bing bong*_

"Ahem! Ahem! Testing, testing! Mike check, one two! This is a test of the school broadcast system! Am I on? Can everyone hear me? Okay, well then! To all incoming students! I would like to begin the entrance ceremony at… right now! Please make your way to the gymnasium at your earliest convenience… That's all. I'll be waiting!"

Just hearing Monokuma's voice caused Naegi to cringe involuntarily. The voice itself was bad enough - disturbingly enthusiastic and high pitched. It was a sound that you couldn't bear to listen to for longer than five minutes at a time. But Naegi also knew that whenever Monokuma spoke, something bad was sure to follow soon afterwards.

_Well, at least I know what's going to happen..._

Once again, it was time.

Time to begin a new Killing Game.


	10. Act 2, Chapter 2

Naegi made a mistake.

What the hell was he thinking, introducing himself to everyone like that? Sure, he was a time traveler. That didn't mean that he needed to go around and appease all of his classmates. Naegi didn't even know why he did it - was it because he wanted to see their reactions? Was it just because he _could_? He should have just gone through the introductions regularly. But he didn't, and now he was stuck in this dilemma.

It started out innocently though.

"Naegi, I need to talk to you about your… situation." Right after Monokuma made his announcement commanding the students to go to the gym, Kirigiri approaches Naegi. "Let's walk and talk."

Naegi happily agrees. He was willing to do whatever it took in order to make sure Kirigiri believed him. He knew that it would be a hundred times harder to solve whatever situation he was in by himself. "Sure. Let's go!"

"Hey, wait a second!" Maizono hastily walks up to the pair before they could leave. "Can I join you two? I would like to talk some more to Naegi as well."

"Well…" For obvious reasons, Naegi couldn't talk to Kirigiri with Maizono around. As he tries to think of a way to politely decline, Yamada suddenly rushes towards Naegi.

"No! I will not let anyone take my apprentice from me!" Yamada shouts, pointing at Naegi. "Come with me, my student! I shall begin your lessons as soon as the entrance ceremony is over!"

From there, the situation only got worse. Much worse.

"Hey, wait a second here." Naegi laughs nervously, backing up a bit. He turns to look at Kirigiri with a pleading look, but she seemed completely indifferent to the trouble that Naegi had gotten himself into.

"Not so fast." Kuwata joins the rapidly growing group of students. "Let me walk with him!"

"I-I will not let any of you take away my white knight!" Out of nowhere, Fukawa runs into Naegi, latching on to his hoodie. She glares at the other students with vehemence, hissing at anyone who tries to inch closer.

"W-White knight?!" Naegi stammers. Wasn't Togami supposed to be her white knight?! What happened to her?

"Sorry folks, I got dibs!" Asahina chimes in. "I already have him pegged as my best friend, so all of you better back off!"

"No, I believe that I have priority on Naegi!" Ishimaru shouts. "Naegi and I have a relationship as a tutor and student!"

"I'm your student?" Naegi blinks.

"Obviously!"

Hagakure breaks through the crowd and grabs Naegi's arm. "Sorry dudes!"

Before anyone could react, Hagakure pulls Naegi _hard_, shoving everyone else out of the way.

"Hey!" Asahina shouts. "What gives?"

"N-No fair…" Fukawa scowls.

_*ding dong bing bong*_

"HEY!" Monokuma screeches over the PA system, irritation clearly present in his voice. "Get to the dang gym already! I'm not getting any younger over here! If you guys don't show up soon, then I'll start assigning penalties!"

Hagakure nods at Naegi. "Hear that buddy? Let's split!"

"Wha-"

Once again, Hagakure runs off, dragging Naegi behind him forcefully. It seemed that Hagakure was particularly fond of doing this, for some reason.

_What have I done?_

* * *

Other than that small blip, everything actually went along as expected.

Monokuma appears out of nowhere.

Most of the students call him a teddy bear.

He denies it and then tells the students to kill each other if they want to escape.

Owada gets pissed and picks up Monokuma.

Kirigiri tells him to throw it - he complies.

It was all happening exactly as Naegi had expected it to.

…

"So? What are we going to do now? Just stand around glaring at each other?"

Kirigiri's pointed comment was directed at everyone in the room. They were all still in shock from Monokuma's announcement, but this helped pull them back to reality. Out of everyone there, Naegi, Kirigiri, and Ikusaba were probably the only ones who didn't seem surprised at all.

"R-Right. She's right! Times like these are when you're supposed to step forward!" Ishimaru cries out. "T-To have forgotten such a simple fact, it is unbecoming of the Ultimate Moral Compass! I'm so ashamed! Someone, please hit me!"

Owada scoffs, glaring at Ishimaru. "If you have time to yell about it, then you have time to actually do something about it."

"Perhaps…" Yamada says nervously. "But what exactly would be the mission?"

"Duh!" Kuwata rolls his eyes. "Look for a way out of here!"

_It's happening again… _Naegi thinks to himself. _I already feel exhausted._

Kirigiri walks up to Naegi with a cold glare. "So, care to explain what happened on the way to the gym?"

Naegi grins sheepishly. "Erm… I don't know? That didn't happen the last time I went through this."

The detective sighs and brushes away a few stray hairs from her face. "Whatever. As it stands, I'm either convinced that you're either working for the person behind Monokuma, or that you're telling the truth about time travelling."

"If I really was working for Monokuma, wouldn't it be a bad idea to tell me that you think so?" Naegi asks nervously.

Kirigiri waves her hand dismissively. "Perhaps. But it would be obvious to assume that I suspect you anyway. I don't think there's any harm in voicing my opinions."

"Oh."

"Anyway…" Kirigiri refocuses her glare at Naegi. In her mind, she knew that Naegi was telling the truth about being from the future. She didn't know how such a thing was possible, but it didn't really matter how it was done. For now, she wanted to milk as much information from Naegi as possible. "If you're from the future, then tell me. What's my talent? You knew that I can't remember it."

"Oh. You're the Ultimate Detective." Naegi says simply.

"The Ultimate Detective…" Kirigiri muses to herself, a hand on her chin. She knew that she had an unusually keen eye for details - being a detective correlated with that. "Alright then. For now, I want you to tell me two more things."

Naegi hesitates for a moment, then nods. He knew from experience that knowing things about the future could be dangerous. He hoped that Kirigiri wouldn't overextend with this information.

"First, I want you to tell me who the mastermind is. Second, I want you to tell me another event that's going to pass." Kirigiri says. "The prediction about Owada was correct, but it could have just been a prediction on his behavior. Give me another prediction to prove it wasn't a fluke."

Naegi exhales deeply. The second thing he was perfectly willing to do. But the first… that information was extremely dangerous. Junko was perfectly willing to bend her own rules in order to try and frame Kirigiri. If she found out that Kirigiri knew her identity… well, there was no guarantee that she would live through this game.

Kirigiri must have noticed his worry, because she suddenly gave him a small smile. "Don't worry about me. I can handle myself." She probably meant it to be reassuring, but Naegi couldn't help but notice that it looked forced.

"Alright…" Naegi says reluctantly. "Well, the mastermind is Junko Enoshima."

In a knee jerk reaction, Kirigiri whips her head around, scanning the gym to see if Junko was still there. She was - 'Junko' was arguing with Ishimaru about something. But before Kirigiri could say anything, Naegi quickly adds - "That Junko isn't the real Junko. She's an impostor. Her real name is Mukuro Ikusaba."

"... I see." Kirigiri mutters.

"And about a second prediction…" Naegi's eyes drift around the room as he tries to think about a good prediction to tell her. It needed to be something sort of significant, something that could easily be observed. Then, his eyes land on Fujisaki.

"Chihiro Fujisaki takes a broken laptop from the library and repairs it. He uses it to create and AI known as Alter Ego."

Kirigiri raises a brow. "He?"

"Oh." Naegi turns slightly red as he remembers the promise he made to Fujisaki earlier. He said that he wouldn't tell anyone… but if it was Kirigiri, then hopefully it was okay. "Yeah, Fujisaki's a guy."

Kirigiri stares at the programmer with a slight hint of curiosity. "I… see. Well then, I will stake out the library. If she… _he _takes the laptop as you predicted, then I suppose I'd have no choice but to really believe your story."

Naegi's shoulders sag as he sighs in relief. "Thank you, Kirigiri. I just want to stop myself from being stuck in this… time loop. I'll save everyone from being murdered again. But this time, I hope it doesn't all just restart again."

"I'm sure that I can find some sort of solution." Kirigiri says simply. "See you later."

"Yeah…"

* * *

From there, Naegi relives the events of the Killing School Life yet again.

Though most of it remained the same, there were a couple of differences here and there. Most of it stemmed from Naegi's beginning introduction - most of the students treated him a lot nicer this time around, especially Fukawa and Asahina. In fact, Owadad didn't even try to punch him when he stepped in between his argument with Togami.

"Fucking hell. Can't you just let me punch that asshole once?" Owada asks darkly, sending a deadly glare at the affluent prodigy.

"We can't be fighting each other. Let's just calm down, alright?" Naegi puts his hands up in a placating gesture. But at the same time, he tenses himself in preparation to dodge Owada's punch.

"Hmph. Whatever." Owada scowls, but doesn't press the issue further.

_Huh. He didn't try to hit me this time around? That's… different. Not that I'm complaining though._

Though instances like these happened every now and again, most of Naegi's actions stayed the same - and so did the actions of his classmates.

* * *

"I'm really sorry to come by so late."

Nagei stares at Maizono who was standing in front of his room. This was the third time she had knocked on his door. Like every other time, her body was trembling and her face was deathly pale. There were hints of tears in her eyes.

"Sorry to bother you but…. Something weird just happe-"

"Be honest with me Sayaka." Naegi puts his hand up, interrupting Maizono. He stares into her eyes with an uncharacteristically stoic expression.

"H-Huh?" Maizono blinks. "What do you mean?"

"I know, Maizono. I know that you're planning to… to murder someone."

Maizono's eyes fill with panic. Her heart was already beating at a million miles an hour - but when she heard Naegi confront her, it somehow began to beat even faster. Instinctively, she takes a step back and gapes at Naegi. "Naegi, I-"

"Maizono, there's no need to be so desperate, really." Stepping closer to her, Naegi grasps Maizono's hands, causing her to flinch. "Please. Don't do this."

…

"My pop idol group was on the motive video. I… I need to check up on them. I need to get out of here! My dream, it's…"

Maizono gasps as Naegi suddenly pulls her into a gentle embrace. The comfortable warmth that suddenly seeps into her body causes her to shiver. Slowly, she puts her arms around Naegi and returns his hug.

"We will get out of here, together. I promise, okay?"

_Why? Naegi knew that I was going to kill someone… But he still trusts me? I don't deserve this._

"I was going to… kill someone. I was going to frame you."

"I know."

"I-If you knew, then why are you being so trusting towards me?" Maizono whispers. "If you knew I was going to kill someone then you shouldn't be like this! In fact, you should hate me!"

"No, that's wrong." Naegi pulls away from the embrace and puts both of his hands on her shoulders. He stares into her eyes with a grim determination in his face. "I shouldn't hate you. You're my friend! I want to help you, Maizono… even if you were planning to frame me.. I know that you don't really want to kill anyone Maizono. You were just backed into a corner."

Guilt starts to slowly crush Maizono. Had she really been planning to kill someone and then frame this innocent boy?

_I'm disgusting._

"No, I used you. I didn't even hesitate to frame you for… for a murder." Maizono shakes her head. "You were… just a tool."

"... Maybe I was." Naegi says softly. To hear him confirm it caused a jolt to run through Maizono's body. "But if you thought of me as _just _a tool, then wouldn't it be a lot easier to try and kill me instead of Kuwata?"

"..."

"Maizono, you're my friend. I only wish the best for you. That's why I promise that we will get out of here, together."

"N-Naegi…" Maizono stares at him in a sort of awe, tears starting to slowly fall down her cheeks. She had no idea how he knew about her plan, but… she was grateful. She was grateful that he had decided to stop her.

"So don't go through with your plan, okay?"

* * *

The very next morning, Naegi runs into Kirigiri in the hall. Before he could issue a greeting, Kirigiri grabs his arm and whispers into his ear -

"_I believe you."_

That confirms it then. She saw Fujisaki pick up the laptop to fix it up. Hopefully, Kirigiri would be able to find a solution for him then… He didn't even know if he was actually time travelling or not. Naegi didn't even know where to start with his dilemma. In fact, Naegi wasn't sure if Kirigiri could even help him with a problem as unique as this one.

_Kirigiri can help me out. _Naegi ressaures himself. _She must be able to find something. I mean, Kirigiri is… well, Kirigiri._

All he needs to do now is wait… and focus on saving his friends.

* * *

"Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is not allowed. You've violated a school regulation. I invoke the mighty summon spell! Help! To me, godly spear Gungnir!" Monokuma shouts, raising his paws out from the floor.

_And, here we are._

Right as Monokuma finishes his sentence, Naegi rushes forward and shoves Ikusaba as hard as he could. But for some reason, she ends up falling onto the floor this time.

"Hey! What's the big…" Ikusaba's sentence dies in her throat as she sees what she had just been spared from. Dozens of spears, reaching up from the floor was stabbing up into the empty air that Ikusaba had been standing in just seconds ago.

_What?_

"You okay, Junko?" Naegi looks down at her with a tinge of worry in his eyes.

Ikusaba doesn't respond, instead opting to just sit there, glued to the ground. For once in her life, her mind moved sluggishly, not able to process what just happened. Her eyes told her what they saw, but her brain refused to process it.

_What…? How? What just happened?_

"You!" Monokuma turns his attention to Naegi, steam pouring out of his ears. His face seemed as red as a beet. "How dare you interfere with a punishment! Why, just for that, I might execute you instead!"

"No." Naegi couldn't help but smile smugly as he recalls what Kirigiri had said the last time this happened. "No where in the rules does it say that I can be punished for interfering with an execution. Punishing me would break your rules."

"Grrr..." Monokuma stares at both Kirigiri and Naegi with malice. For a second, it seemed as if Monokuma would end up killing Naegi anyway. But then, unexpectedly…

"Puhuhuhuhuhu… Sure, sure!" This may be more interesting anyway! I won't even finish off 'Junko' over here!" Monokuma waddles towards the exit, still giggling to himself. "Next time though, I will DEFINITELY kill the rule breaker! So stay on your toes!"

* * *

"What did he want me to do? What was I supposed to do?" Owada rants. "Was I supposed to just sit back, let me secret get revealed, and ruin everyth-"

This was it. It was time for Naegi to interfere again so that things don't get out of hand. Taking a deep breath, Naegi barges into the charging room.

"Owada!"

"What the?" Owada spins around in shock.

"Ah! N-Naegi!" Fujisaki squeaks.

"What the hell are you-"

"Remember Daiya. Would he have wanted you to act like this? Don't pretend like his death was a murder! He wouldn't want you wallowing in self pity all the time. You are strong, Mondo Owada. Don't let your emotions overpower you like this."

"D-Daiya…? What… What the hell do you know about what he would have wanted?" Owada growls, face completely red. He steps towards Naegi, cracking his knuckles.

Naegi shakes his head. "I was not as close to him as you are. Clear your head and ask yourself. Ask yourself about what he would have wanted… would he want you to let his death hang above you like a cloud for the rest of your life?"

…

Amazingly, Owada's face breaks into a toothy grin. "You're one tough ass kid, you know that? Besides you, Daiya was the only one to lecture me like that. No one else had the guts, not even adults."

"..."

"Yeah… yeah, I won't let my emotions overpower me." Owada nods to himself. "Fujisaki, I'll… talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

_How the hell did he even know about Daiya? Whatever…_

Naegi sighs to himself and scratches his head. He probably wasn't ever going to get used to Owada acting like this. He seemed to actually respect Naegi now, which just seemed weird to him.

"Um… Naegi?" Fujisaki asks nervously. "About all of this, I-"

To Fujisaki's shock, Naegi shakes his head. "You don't need to say anything. See you later, Fujisaki."

With a reassuring smile, Naegi leaves the changing room as well, leaving Fujisaki to himself.

* * *

"Celeste." Not long after Monokuma announced the billion yen motive, Naegi decides to save some time by approaching Celeste before she even got the chance to carry out her plan. It would be much simpler to just confront her right away.

"Oh, Naegi." Celeste smiles in her usual sweet way. "Is there something that you need?"

Mustering up the courage, Naegi looks up and stares directly into her red eyes.

"I know what you're planning."

Celeste subtly flinches. One of her eye twitches as the smile on her face quickly disappears.

_What the hell?! Did this kid just… read me?_

"Whatever do you mean?" Celeste asks as calmly as she could, regaining her composure.

"You're going to have Yamada murder someone. Then, you're going to betray him by murdering Yamada yourself. Isn't that right?" Naegi deadpans.

…

"How…" Celeste's mask cracks as her face turns slightly red. Not once in her entire gambling career had someone been able to see through her so clearly. She didn't even tell Yamada about this yet, so it wasn't as if she was ratted out by him. "How the _fuck _do you know about this?!"

"I've already told Kirigiri about your plan." Naegi says quickly. 'So don't try to target me either."

"So what?" Celeste scoffs bitterly. "You two are just going to tell everyone else in the morning, aren't you? Then, they will all shun me. I will be the first murder victim. If that's the case, perhaps I should take a gamble on your life anyway!"

"No." Naegi replies calmly. Well, as calmly as one could when being threatened by someone such as Celeste. He could already picture her stabbing him with her metal finger. Being stabbed was something he _definitely _didn't want to experience again. "We won't tell anyone. Nothing happened, so why would we? Just know this, Celeste. Killing someone right now isn't worth it."

"YOU…" Celeste gives Naegi the deadliest glare she could muster up.

Naegi manages to return her glare with a defiant look of his own. It was clear that he wouldn't back down.

Then all at once, Celeste deflates and her rage vanishes without a single strace. "Fine. I concede. That's what you wanted to hear, right?"

"Yeah."

"Get out of my sight." Celeste says with venom in her voice.

Nodding wordlessly, Naegi removes herself from Celeste's presence.

* * *

It was almost time for the final motive. Naegi has waited and waited, but Kirigiri hadn't given him any updates. He was beginning to get worried - despite all of his hopes, was it possible that Kirigiri had failed to find a way out of this time loop?

As Naegi explores the newest floor, he finds himself in the giant music room again. If events happened the same way as they did the last two times, Kirigiri would be here.

Sure enough…

"Kirigiri!" She was up on the main stage, inspecting the grand piano with interest. This time, it's Naegi who walks up to her expectantly.

"Oh, Naegi." Kirigiri looks up at him with a blank look. "How's your investigation so far?"

"Kirigiri, Have you found a solution to…" Naegi glances worriedly at the camera in the room. "To my situation?"

As if she was expecting it, Kirigiri swiftly pulls out a piece of paper from her jacket pocket. It had something written on it.

"Here." She drops the piece of paper into his hands.

…

"**Too little info. Only correlation is someone pushing the button to open the gates to the outside world. Actual causation and method is unknown. If you don't want to time travel, don't let anyone press the button to go outside."**

…

"W-What?" Naegi chokes out.

Now that he thought about it, every time he time traveled so far, it was because someone pressed the button to open the door to the outside world. Was that really what was causing this?

Naegi suddenly winces as he remembers his third loop. _Well, besides the one time Ikusaba stabbed me…_

Kirigiri shrugs carelessly. "Sorry. I don't have enough information. I tried to investigate, but found basically nothing relevant to your situation."

"I see…" Naegi says, biting his lip. If this was true, then the only way to stop going back in time was to stay in this place… forever.

"According to you, the last motive - the one where you get labeled as a traitor is coming up. You should prepare yourself."

"Right. Thanks, Kirigiri."

The detective nods wordlessly and makes a swift exit, leaving Naegi alone with his thoughts.

_I can't go outside, huh…_

* * *

"I for one, vote to let her live." Naegi comments. "She should atone for her acts. We could bring her out from the clutches of despair, rehabilitate her."

The last motive went over like a lead balloon with everyone, just like last time. In fact, everyone was even more outraged at Monokuma. No one believed him at all. Everything went off without a hitch.

"Um, Mr. Naegi?" Yamada tentatively raises a finger. "Are you sure that's the right choice? I mean, what if Ms. Enoshima tries to set us up in another killing game? I'm sure she has the means… I mean, she was able to set all of this up."

"Oh man…" Hagakure clutches his head with his hands as sweat began pouring down his face. "What are we supposed to do?!"

"Puhuhuhu…" An abrupt giggle interjects itself into their conversation. All at once, everyone falls silent and stares down at the previously unconscious fashionista. She was still laying down on the floor, and her makeup was smudging.

"Isn't it obvious?" Junko whispers weakly. "Kill me. I tried to force all of you to kill your own friends. Isn't execution the right thing to do here?"

Naegi frowns and shakes his head. "I think the right thing to do would be to keep Junko alive. We stay here, safe within the school just like we promised the principal. Until we can ensure that Junko is free from Despair, we should keep living here."

"S-Stay here?" Fujisaki asks nervously.

"Puhuhuhuhuhu…" Junko's voice drops to a dangerously low tone. "So, that's how it is, huh? You've seen all of this before and you failed. _You failed_."

At this, Naegi's heart freezes up. "W-What?"

Kirigiri narrows her eyes at Junko. This basically confirmed that Junko was the one responsible for Naegi's time traveling - not that it wasn't obvious already.

"Oh, this is gonna be _way_ better than my death! This despair… it's going to eat you alive, Naegi! Mark my words! AHAHAHHAHAHA!" Junko's mouth contorts as she cackles insanely, rolling around on the floor like a maniac.

"Uh, did she finally lose it?" Kuwata stares down at Junko, obviously confused about what was happening.

"Do you _really _think that opening that door is the only trigger I have set up?! Naegi, you naive _idiot_!" Junko suddenly jumps up from the floor and into a standing position. She raises her arms and all at once, the ropes that were so tightly bounding her falls off. Somehow, she had been able to untie them.

"S-She's gonna run! Grab her!" Fukawa shrieks, shying away from the fashionista.

"Nuh uh!" Before anyone could react, Junko reaches up and pulls the black Monokuma pin out of her hair. The red lightning shaped eye shifts downwards slightly as Junko quickly presses her fingers into it.

Eyes rolling madly, Junko's mouth breaks into a smile that was so wide that it looked as if her face was being split into two. "There's no escape, Makoto Naegi! Revel in despair!"

* * *

***A/N* Don't you love filler chapters?**


	11. Act 2, Chapter 3

**The 5th Killing School Game.**

Yet again, Naegi wakes up with a splitting headache. It was a common occurrence at this point. On the bright side, at least he was starting to get used to the pain. Soon enough, he won't even mind the headaches.

This time, Naegi doesn't bother to get up from his desk. The scene of Junko pressing into her hair pin as she smiled played over and over in his mind. It was replayed in slow motion, it was fast forwarded, it was reversed... He just kept seeing it again and again.

_There's more than one way to make me time travel… _

_Why?_

_Why me?_

A stinging sensation rises in Naegi's chest as tears start to gather in his eyes. It was unfair. Why was Junko doing this to him? Now, he had to go through the game again. Even if he knew everything that was going to happen, he still had to wait several weeks before it's over. And by the time he finishes the Killing Game, he just gets sent back to the start.

Naegi's body starts to tremble and tears begin to fall freely, dripping down his cheeks and onto the desk he was sitting on. His mind felt cloudy - for some reason, he couldn't seem to concentrate on anything. All he could think about was how _useless _all of this was. Who knew how many triggers Junko had to send him back in time?

_Is it all hopeless? Is this… Despair?_

…

_No._

_Junko wants me to 'revel in despair? She wants me to lose all hope?_

_No._

_I won't let her._

_I won't let Junko win._

Taking a shuddering breath, Naegi drags his sleeves across his face, drying the streaks of tears. Shakily, he stands up from his desk and begins to slowly walk to the main hall. As he does, Naegi begins to think about his situation.

_Junko obviously knows that I'm time travelling - hell, she's the one causing it… So the natural solution would be to somehow question Junko in person (somehow), figure out how she's doing it (somehow) and then have her get me out of this time loop (somehow)._

At this particular moment, Naegi felt completely exhausted. There was an alarmingly hollow feeling in his chest - Naegi couldn't even feel his own heart beat. It was only the 5th time he had gone through this - not even double digits yet. But each loop was mentally taxing. The amount of stress placed upon Naegi was beginning to get to him.

He had gone through the same song and dance in hopes that Kirigiri would find an answer for him. But she didn't - once Junko heard that he wanted to stay in the school, she just sent him back to the beginning of the game like it was nothing. One part of him felt frustrated at Kirigiri. The other part knows that he was being unfair for feeling this way.

He approached her with wild stories about time travel and expected her to magically conjure up a solution for him? Kirigiri was amazing, but even that would be too much. He couldn't just dump all of his problems on her and hope for the best - Naegi knew this.

Kirigiri could help him, but she couldn't do everything by herself.

_*ding dong bing bong*_

"Ahem! Ahem! Testing, testing! Mike check, one two! This is a test of the school broadcast system! Am I on? Can everyone hear me? Okay, well then! To all incoming students! I would like to begin the entrance ceremony at… right now! Please make your way to the gymnasium at your earliest convenience… Oh yeah, Makoto Naegi, get your butt over here too!"

Naegi curses to himself and quickened his pace. Apparently, he had been stalling for so long that the introductions were already over. It wasn't as if he needed to be introduced to anyone at this point, but no one knew who _he _was.

_This may have changed some things…_

Naegi finally reaches the gymnasium. As he does, he hurriedly bursts through the doors. He could practically hear every single head in the room turn to stare at him. Who could blame them for looking though? He was the only one who wasn't in the main hall.

"Well well well!" Monokuma's annoyingly high pitched voice practically shatters Naegi's ear drums into pieces. It was almost as if his voice was amplified every single time Naegi went through a time loop. "Look who FINALLY decided to show up! You're holding up the line here, buddy!"

"So there really was a 15th student?" Kuwata scans Naegi, seemingly unimpressed.

"Unacceptable! For a student to be so tardy… It is inexcusable!" Ishimaru's booming voice stomps on the pieces of Naegi's ear drums. "This is not welcome in a school environment!"

"Sorry. So what's going on here?" Naegi asks, despite knowing full well what was about to happen.

"Oh, it's just an entrance ceremony!" Hagakure says reassuringly. "I dunno why that guy's just talking through the PA system, but I'm sure someone's gonna arrive eventually."

"Right on the money! In fact, now that everyone's here, I can finally make my dramatic entrance! Puhuhuhuhuhuhu!"

_*Boing*_

Monokuma, accompanied by a cartoonish spring sound effect, pops up from the ground and lands on the podium.

"Huh? A teddy bear?" Fujisaki asks nervously.

"I bet he's the headmaster of this academy." Naegi comments.

Owada turns around to meet his eyes. He looked even more pissed off than usual. "What the hell kind of assumption is that?"

"Puhuhuhuhu! Ahoge boy is right!" Monokuma cackles. "I'm Monokuma, the headmaster of this academy!"

From the corner of his eyes, he notices that Kirigiri narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously as Monokuma confirmed his 'guess'. Not only Kirigiri - but Ikusaba and Maizono seemed to notice that he was acting strangely.

_I should really tone it down, huh… This isn't a very good first impression._

"Wait a minute!" Yamada recoils and points at Monokuma, mouth opening and closing like a fish. "The teddy bear can talk?! What is this?!"

"Calm down. I'm sure that there's just a speaker in it." Ishimaru says. Despite his words, he seemed to be disturbed by Monokuma as well.

_Here we go again… But I need to stay in line this time._

* * *

"I'm gonna kick your ass!" Owada snarls as he cracks his knuckles menacingly.

"Hey guys. We shouldn't be fighting." Naegi steps in between Togami and Owada once again. Now that he thought about this situation, it was extremely obvious that Owada was about to punch him. He should have been able to dodge this from the start.

"The fuck you just say? You some kinda goody-goody bitch?" Owada snarls, training a deadly glare at Naegi. Meanwhile, Togami just smirks pridefully as he watches Owada with amusement. "Get outta my way! The fuck you think you are, my dad?"

"Calm down, Owada." Naegi frowns disapprovingly.

"FUCK YOU!" Owada roars and swings his arm.

_*Whiff*_

Naegi dodges the punch once again.

Owada stumbles as he misses once again.

"Ugh! Fuckin' prick!" Owada tries to wind up another punch but before he could attempt another hit, Ogami holds his arm back.

"That is enough." Ogami warns with a dangerous aura. The air around her literally crackles as she glares down at Owada. "This is no time to be fighting."

Paling slightly, Owada scoffs. "Whatever."

Ogami nods, apparently satisfied in Owada's answer. She then turns her attention to Naegi. "Nice dodge. I didn't expect you to have such quick reflexes if I were to be honest."

Naegi smiles. "I didn't expect it either."

* * *

Naegi convinces Maizono to not kill Kuwata.

Naegi shoves Ikusaba away from the spears.

Naegi helps placate Owada's temper.

Naegi stops Celeste from going through with her scheme.

And now once again, the 4th motive is here.

…

"Puhuhuhuhu! That's right! In fact, from the very start of this whole game, Naegi had been working for me! Isn't that sweet?" Monokuma twirls his wooden stick in his paws, giggling to himself.

"What the hell?! Naegi's a spy?" Owada's head snaps to Naegi as his eyes bulge out in shock.

"No way!" Asahina says desperately. "That has to be a lie!"

Ogami's expression darkens as she looks down at Naegi. "There was another working as a mole all along?"

"I can't say that I'm surprised that Monokuma would make this move." Togami rolls his eyes in contempt. Unlike everyone else, he didn't seem shocked at the new motive Monokuma had given them. "Naegi obviously knew more than any of us. He was the only one that arrived late at the start of the game as well - he could have been talking with Monokuma."

"Kill the traitor!" Fukawa hisses while backing up from Naegi, giving him an evil look.

"Naegi, please tell me that you're not a traitor!" Maizono begs, a look of sheer desperation plastered on her face. She looked like she could start bawling at any minute. "I couldn't take it if you were working for _him _all this time…"

Ikusaba delivers a chilling glare to Monokuma. "Naegi-"

"HEY HEY HEY!" The monochrome bear interrupts Ikusaba before she could even get past her first word. "Remember the new rule! Or do you feel like going through another execution?"

"..." Ikusaba closes her mouth, but kept her murderous glare trained on Monokuma.

"Oh boy! If looks could kill, I would be bear steak by now!" Monokuma chuckles. "Anyway, I would also like to present a freebie perk!"

"F-Freebie?" Hagakure's head perks up.

"Don't look so interested man!" Kuwata smacks Hagakure on the shoulder roughly.

"Puhuhuhuhu! No, be super interested because this is a good one!" Monokuma guffaws. "Anyone who kills Makoto Naegi graduates right away! No trial, no investigation, you get out of here completely free! No strings attached!"

Naegi frowned but kept silent.

"Do what you will with these motives! Puhuhuhuhuhuhu!"

…

"Is this the honest truth, Monokuma? Has Naegi been a spy since the very start?" Kirigiri suddenly asks. "It may answer some things if this is true."

_What?_

Naegi whirls around and looks at Kirigiri in shock. This didn't happen before… but now that Naegi thinks about it, some of the dialogue in this scene had changed. People weren't really defending him… they were just surprised. Some acted with disbelief, but no one rushed to defend him against Monokuma's accusations.

"Why, of course!" Monokuma smiles evilly. "Like Togami said, the reason why Naegi was rather late at the beginning of this game… was because we were forging our contract! Puhuhuhuhuhuhuhu!"

"N-No! He and I didn't even talk back then!" Naegi looks around at his classmates in a panic. He tried to find someone, _anyone_ who seemed to doubt Monokuma's words. But all he saw was anger and shock. "I'm not a spy!"

Hagakure frowns. "I dunno man, it's not like Monokuma has ever lied to us before. Besides, I can't lie - you're kind of suspicious."

"If I'm a spy, then why would Monokuma rat me out?! If anything, that just proves he's trying to get rid of me!" Naegi protests.

"Oh, Naegi. Don't play dumb!" Monokuma says giddily, holding his paws to his mouth. "You broke our contract. You failed to find any _useful _information. And so, our contract is revoked. You aren't just any spy - you're a _failure _of a spy! Puhuhuhuhu!"

Naegi's face turns as white as a sheet. None of this made sense. This wasn't supposed to happen.

"To be quite frank, Naegi has been on my mind for quite a while." Togami interjects. "He knew before any of us that Monokuma was the headmaster. He wasn't surprised when Monokuma was revealed to be a bear - nor was he surprised when Monokuma revealed the killing game to us either."

"Now that you mention it…" Yamada rubs his chin with his finger and thumb, in an exaggerated thinking motion. "I've noticed that Mr. Naegi had just been keeping silent back then."

Naegi shakes his head desperately. "T-That's-"

"In fact," Togami interrupts with a glare. "Ever since then, I have been observing his reactions carefully. For every single motive that Monokuma had thrown at us, for every single significant event that has happened… Naegi has yet to show even a hint of surprise. It was as if he knew what was going to happen."

"... I can confirm that. I've been observing him as well." Kirigiri nods in agreement. "Out of all of us, Naegi has been the most suspicious."

"Puhuhuhuhu! He's such a terrible actor, isn't he?" Monokuma guffaws. "Yes, since the very start, Naegi has been my pawn! In exchange, I've forewarned him about every single motive. On top of that, I let him have access to all of the cameras in this place!"

"No, that's wrong!" Naegi shouts, panic threatening to overwhelm him. He felt like his heart was about to explode, and sweat was dripping down his face like a fountain. There was nothing ind his mind but pure panic and disbelief. "None of that is true!"

"A-Actually…" Fujisaki tentatively speaks up. "Owada and I were talking alone one day… I think Owada started to lose his temper, but Naegi stepped in and calmed me down at the perfect moment."

Maizono slowly nods, her face ashen gray. "Um… N-Naegi knew that… He knew something about me that he couldn't have unless he saw my a-actions." It looked as if she was choking on broken glass. Her expression was one of utter betrayal.

"So, that's how you knew about what I was doing, hm?" Celeste giggles softly. "It makes sense now. You were spying on me."

"G-Guys…" Naegi says weakly. "I swear-"

"I have no doubt that Naegi knew about the motives either. In fact, it was exceedingly obvious that he had this knowledge. That correlates correctly with Monokuma's account." Kirigiri adds.

"I can't believe that Naegi has been a traitor all along." Asahina looks down sadly.

Ikusaba says nothing, but her face had gone deathly pale. She wanted to say something, _anything _that could defend Naegi. But as long as Junko was watching her...

"I…" Naegi tries to flub around for an excuse. A way to defend himself. _Anything._ But his mind fails him. All he could do is sit there, and try to avoid eye contact with the looks of disappointment that were being shot at him.

"Well, Naegi?" Togami glares at him disdainfully. "Do you have an explanation or not?"

Naegi actually had a perfectly legitimate explanation - he was a time traveler. Too bad that there was literally no way that any of them would believe that.

"..."

_*ding dong bing bong*_

"Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entray at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then… sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!"

"Hmph. Saved by the bell. I believe that the best course of action for you right now would be to stay in your room. Good luck… Naegi." Togami says, venom practically dripping from his voice.

Wordlessly, Naegi shuffles back to his dorm room, trying to ignore the stares digging into the back of his head. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. For the first time in any killing game, Naegi starts to fear that someone was going to murder him. He had believed in his friends in everyone single instance… but now he wasn't so sure.

_But this is my fault, isn't it? It's my fault that I didn't even try to act. It's my fault that I acted so suspiciously._

_It's my fault that I acted more distant to my classmates._

_It's my fault that I did not act as a friend._

_It's my fault that I didn't even try to defend myself._

_It's my fault._

_My fault._

_My…_

_Fault._

* * *

When Junko had first introduced this motive, it took two weeks before Junko got bored and decided to kill Naegi herself. She took action because no one even _tried _to kill him, despite all of the incentives. But now that everyone thinks badly of Naegi… Junko might not even need to take action.

Junko had recorded Naegi's reaction to her motive. That night, she had played it over and over and over and over and over again to herself, giggling all the while. This was the closest thing Junko had seen to Naegi falling into despair. She needed to treasure this moment!

Naegi's face falling flat as he realizes that his classmates didn't trust him…

His weak attempts at defending his innocence…

It wasn't true despair - more like a mixture of desperation and fear. Still though, it was pretty darn close to despair. And for Junko, this was good enough. Her thirst was temporarily sated.

Temporarily.

* * *

_Day 4_

Makoto Naegi was fast asleep in his dorm. It was currently midnight - 2 hours after the nighttime announcement. For the first few days, Naegi took special care to lock his door each night. But eventually, he lapsed into his old habit of forgetting to do so. Part of it had to do with the fact that no one had tried to attack him so far. The most he had gotten was a few cold stares.

At any rate, Naegi was completely asleep in his room, alone. His door wasn't locked.

Ikusaba wasn't watching this time.

_*cree*_

Naegi's dorm room creaks open.

…

_*pat pat pat*_

Soft footsteps emanate from the entrance. They get louder as the intruder approaches the peacefully asleep Naegi, but not nearly loud enough to wake up a person who is in deep sleep. Eventually, the footsteps reach Naegi's bed. The intruder stands right above the luckster.

"_This is for being a spy. This is for being a traitor… Makoto Naegi." _The intruder whispers to themself.

…

…

…

"Hm?" Naegi lazily rubs his eyes as he suddenly jolts awake.

…

"AHHHHH - _urk!_"

…

Makoto Naegi becomes the first victim of the Killing School Game.


	12. Act 2, Chapter 4

**The 6th Killing School Game.**

Pain.

This is what Makoto Naegi is currently feeling. He was suffering from a headache that was so bad that Naegi thought his head was surely being split into two. It was as if an iron pike was being stabbed into his brain.

Naegi swings his head up and looks around the room in a panic. For a second, he couldn't even understand what had just happened. Wasn't he near the end of the killing game? He had just been woken up from his sleep.

_Oh. Did… I just. Was I…_

Naegi's eyes widen as he realizes that he was attacked. He was _killed_. By one of his classmates. One of his dear friends that he had been trying so hard to save… had decided that Naegi should die.

_I can't believe this… why?_

He was killed by _that _person? Out of everyone in the killing game, they were the ones who decided to pull the trigger? Naegi could hardly believe it. He could have written it off as simply a bad dream, but he knew better. Naegi would love nothing more than to just pin everything that's been happening as a dream at this point, but that would just be denial.

In the last moments of his past life, Naegi had looked into their eyes. There was some remorse, some regret. But another emotion vastly overshadowed those things.

It was relief.

They were relieved that Naegi was going to die.

They were relieved that they were finally going to get out of the Killing Game, completely scot free.

Naegi clutches his head as his headache starts pounding harder. It hurt so bad that he thought he was going to die before he could even walk out of the room. Fresh, savage pain shot through his brain, completely scrambling any attempts of rational thought.

Gasping, Naegi squeezes his eyes shut. This was terrible. Everything was terrible.

…

Somehow, Naegi manages to stand up from the desk. His headache had lessened, though only slightly. It still felt like someone was continuously smashing his head in with a hammer. Every single step he took only served to heighten his suffering. He could barely see straight, but he somehow still managed one rational thought.

_I'm going to have to… act._

In order to survive. In order to prevent himself from being murdered again.

He would have to fake everything. His emotions, his reactions…

He would need to lie over and over again to his classmates. They wouldn't be seeing Makoto Naegi - just a simple act of what Makoto Naegi used to be.

But if acting was what would let all of them escape this place alive… then he would do it. If that's what was needed to bring Junko out of her locked room, he would do it.

He will escape this time loop. Then, he will escape this damned school with _all _of his friends, alive.

He would do it over and over again. Naegi will not give up.

Not until he drove himself insane.

* * *

What Naegi didn't expect, was for him to fail miserably. He acted surprised when necessary, and feigned ignorance in all of the right places. He didn't do anything stupid like predict what Monokuma was going to say, and he even went through the same conversations with his friends.

But Naegi was a terrible actor.

He couldn't have told a simple lie even if his life depended on it. The only people who Naegi could deceive were people like Hagakure and Asahina. If he even tried to lie to anyone else, he would either be met with suspicious glances are straight up confronted.

So if Naegi couldn't tell a single lie, then how could he have faked his emotions for several weeks? The answer was that he couldn't. In the end, he was still labeled as a traitor. In the end, no one had believed his pleas. It had all repeated the same… except for how he died.

Instead of being killed in his sleep, he was just straight up ambushed while walking in the halls. But even with this difference, it still wasn't all that different. After all, it was the same exact person who had decided to kill him.

Naegi couldn't fake how he felt. So what could he do?

He could learn.

After his first attempt, Naegi had decided that he needed to learn how to lie. It was detestable - Naegi disliked lies. Whenever he tried to lie, or even keep a secret, he always felt a huge amount of guilt, threatening to eat him up. Even if he had good intentions, lying just made him feel _ashamed_. To add insult to injury, Naegi had always felt really nervous when trying to deceive someone. For whatever reason, his heart just starts beating a hundred times faster and sweat starts to drip from his face.

That wouldn't do. That wouldn't do at all.

Naegi needed to learn how to lie.

So who better to learn from then the Queen of Liars herself?

…

**The 7th Killing School Game.**

...

Naegi focused most of his attention to Celeste. He had basically taken Yamada's place as Celeste's servant. He did everything for her - serving her royal milk tea, listening to her problems, carrying her stuff around, taking out her trash… Celeste treated him a servant, one that was willing to do whatever she said.

But eventually, Celeste had stopped seeing Naegi as a personal slave. She wouldn't admit it, not even to herself - but she had started to like Naegi. She would feel… _happy_ whenever Naegi went to talk to her. To Celeste, Naegi had became a friend. In fact, she considered him a B rank - though she would always tell him that he was a C rank when he asked.

When Monokuma had revealed her secret to everyone, Naegi had _understood_. He didn't brush off her secret as something that wasn't important, something that she had exaggerated. He had treated it delicately, and for that… Celeste respected him.

So when Naegi had come to her with a request, she was happy to comply. Though she had been somewhat surprised that someone like Naegi wanted to learn how to lie, she had understood. They were in a killing game, and openly showcasing your emotions to everyone around you could be dangerous. Teaching him how to build a perfect mask was the least she could do for the boy.

She played poker with him, for hours on end. At first, Naegi was terrible. She could read his eyes easily, and could even tell exactly what kind of hand he had. But after some time, along with a few tips and lectures from Celeste, had had gotten better.

Not good mind you, but… better. And she would be happy to train him until he had almost reached her level.

But when Monokuma told everyone he was a traitor, they had believed him. Celeste thought this was idiotic - why would they believe someone like Monokuma? Why couldn't they see that Naegi _clearly _wasn't the traitor?! She had tried her damned hardest to argue for Naegi's innocence, and as calmly as possible. When that didn't work, she flew into a rage and insulted everyone. It didn't matter.

She was outnumbered. Naegi was outed from the group.

Celeste had lost her only ally.

**The 8th Killing School Game.**

So when Naegi had come to her with a request, she was happy to comply. Though she had been somewhat surprised that someone like Naegi wanted to learn how to lie, she had understood. They were in a killing game, and openly showcasing your emotions to everyone around you could be dangerous. Teaching him how to build a perfect mask was the least she could do for the boy.

She played poker with him, for hours on end. At first, Naegi was only average at best. She could read his eyes with little trouble, and could even call out his bluffs almost every single time he tried. But after some time, along with a few tips and lectures from Celeste, had had gotten better.

But when Monokuma told everyone he was a traitor, they had believed him. Celeste thought this was idiotic - why would they believe someone like Monokuma? Why couldn't they see that Naegi _clearly _wasn't the traitor?! She had tried her damned hardest to argue for Naegi's innocence, and as calmly as possible. When that didn't work, she flew into a rage and insulted everyone. It didn't matter.

She was outnumbered. Naegi was outed from the group.

Celeste had lost her only ally.

**The 38th Killing School Game.**

When that… 'thing' called Monokuma had revealed that they needed to kill each other, Celeste was instantly put on guard. She instantly knew that she couldn't trust anyone anymore. She would act nice, just to throw off suspicion. But when an opportunity came, she wouldn't hesitate to do what it took.

Everyone here was beneath her. Even that snobby rich boy, Togami was a simpleton. No one knew her true intentions, and that was the way that she liked it. She was the Ultimate Gambler, the Queen of Lies! No one here could compare to her - she would win this 'game'.

No one could compare to her… or that was what she had thought.

Out of nowhere, someone named Makoto Naegi had approached her and challenged her to a game of poker. Normally, she would turn down such a request, but Naegi was the Ultimate Luckster… he had piqued her interest with that title. She had thought that Naegi would be a worthy opponent indeed.

She just didn't know _how _worthy.

It was a nail biting set, but in the end, Naegi had come out on top. They had found a poker set, chips and all in the school. So they played a round of Texas HoldEm with no extra buy-ins. It was a three hour game, but Naegi had won.

She had lost a game of poker.

For the first time, she had lost… but strangely enough, she wasn't angry. She was upset, sure. But Celeste knew when to concede defeat. Naegi had beaten her, but only by a hair. She knew that his skill was easily surpassable. Once she got out of here, she would refine her mask as well as her reading skills. Then, she would defeat Naegi.

She could, and she _would _defeat him.

* * *

**The 39th Killing Game.**

Naegi shakes his head. "What I think is the right thing to do is to keep Junko alive. I have to bring her out from despair - no one deserves to be like this. Together, we will water the seeds of hope planted within this world of despair!"

"Oh, come ON! Cut the upstanding shit!" Junko glares at Naegi with a look of distaste on her face. "Will you let this dumb ahoge kid boss you around?! I KILLED YOUR FAMILIES! I KILLED YOUR FRIENDS!"

"..."

"You! Togami!" Junko whirls around and comes face to face with the affluent prodigy with a sneer on her face. "You know your precious butler that was in your motive video? I personally tortured him. I saw his life leave his eyes. Don't you want to take revenge? You do, don't you?"

"..."

Twisting her head, Junko trains her eyes at Maizono. "Hey Maizono! You know your idol career that you worked so hard to build? I fucking _destroyed _it. I personally saw to it that your entire pop group was beheaded!"

"..."

Junko was starting to grin maniacally now. Her mouth stretched in an almost comedic fashion as she flashed her white teeth at everyone. Spinning around, Junko turns to look at Celeste. "I strangled the FUCK out of your dumb cat!"

"..."  
"Dude, this chick is seriously fucked up." Owada glares at Junko, clenching his fists.

"But we can't kill her!" Naegi protests. "Through the whole game, not a single one of us let her win. No murders happened! We can't resort to murder _now _of all times."

"Shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP!" Junko lunges at Naegi, screeching.

"Not so fast." Ogami grabs her out of the air and tosses her back onto the floor.

"Ugh…"

"Let's put it the a vote then." Ikusaba, who had been staying silent ever since Junko woke up, suddenly speaks up.

"Wait!" Naegi suddenly raises his hand up.

"Hm?" Ikusaba, who was controlling Monokuma, looks at Naegi quizzically.

"Before we vote… May I request some time alone with Junko? I really need to ask her something." Naegi says, looking down at Junko.

"..." Junko stares at Naegi intensely, eyes burning a hole into his skull. It felt as if she was trying to peer into his soul. Then, she smiles. It was only a small smile, barely noticeable. But it was there - and it terrified Naegi.

"You want to… ask her something?" Maizono asks.

"Yes. It won't take long, I promise." Naegi purses his lips. "Please. It's really important."

…

"Very well. I have no issues with this. Take all the time you need, Naegi." Ogami is the first to leave the gym.

Hagakure nods and motions to leave as well. "I dunno what you want with her, but good luck man."

"You better not do anything perverted to her, Mr. Naegi! She's defenseless, after all."

"Hmph. I suppose I can give you a little of my time."

"M-Master, wait for me!"

"Ask her whatever you want."

One by one, his classmates leave the gym, until only Ikusaba, Naegi, and Junko were there. Ikusaba had made no attempts to leave, instead opting to just stare at Naegi. He couldn't see Ikusaba through Monokuma, but he could tell that she was nervous.

"... Please, Ikusaba." Naegi says softly.

…

Wordlessly, Monokuma vanishes.

Junko's smile widens considerably as soon as Ikusaba leaves. Sitting up, she tsks at Naegi with a hint of amusement in her eyes. "Oh, Naegi. Are you gonna have your way with me before deciding if I live or die? Naughty boy!"

Rolling his eyes, Naegi sits down on the floor in front of her. "How are you doing this?"

"Hm?"

"How are you making me time travel over and over?"

"..."

"Please. Tell me."

"Hahahaha… AHAHHAHAHAHAHA!" Junko laughs wildly, kicking her feet into the air. "That's great! That's WONDERFUL!"

Naegi flinches at Junko's sudden hysterical laughter. It was a good thing he did, because if he had stayed where he was, he would have been clipped by one of Junko's feet.

"You think that I would tell you? That would defeat the whole purpose of doing this! You will Despair, Naegi. I don't care how bright your shitty hope is! It's nothing compared to this! Despair, for all of eternity! That is your fate!"

Naegi frowns. He had been expecting Junko to talk like this, but hearing her say it still brought his spirits down. He just couldn't wrap his mind around how someone, _anyone _could do something so horrible…

"Junko, why are you so obsessed with Despair? Can you at least explain it to me? From your perspective."

Junko's eyes widen as she starts writhing in apparent pleasure. "Despair is an unknown. Because of my super analytic ability, I was completely bored of this world. The 'hope' you long for is just a preexisting harmony. But despair is the only thing that's different. The heart-racing excitement of messy despair is an experience like you've never known!"

By this point, Junko had started drooling so much that a bunch of it had spilled onto the floor.

"Hope is simple. A just heart, moving toward the light. That's all. Despair is the opposite. It is messy and confusing. Despair swallows up love, hatred, and everything else. Because not knowing where you will end up is despair. It is both pain and pleasure to me!"

Junko's insane eyes focus onto Naegi's own. "You wanna know why I specifically targeted you for this time loop? It's because you are the Ultimate Hope. You aren't fake, like Kamukura. You're _real_, and you're filled with hope. So imagine the sheer amount of _despair _it would bring if I were to crush your spirits! Ahahahahaha!"

"Naegi… is in a time loop?" A third voice suddenly echoes throughout the gymnasium.

But Naegi and Junko turn to look at the source of the third voice. They found it near the entrance of the gym - Mukuro Ikusaba was standing there, arms crossed.

"I-Ikusaba?!" Naegi asks in shock. "Wait, were you eavesdropping on us?"

"I wanted… no, I _needed _to hear what you had to say." Ikusaba shrugs nonchalantly. "Sorry."

"Well now, if it isn't my dumb ugly sister!" Junko says happily. "That's right Muku, he's in a permanent time loop! Isn't that amazing?"

"Ikusaba." Naegi says cautiously. Despite the fact that they were allies right now, he still couldn't help but feel nervous around her. He just couldn't get that scene of Ikusaba stabbing him out of his mind. It had been his first, and most traumatizing death. "Do you know how to get me out of this?"

"Oh, she doesn't." Junko smirks. "But even if she did know, why would she tell you the solution? The amount of despair that would come from seeing your beloved descend into insanity… It would be absolutely soul-crushing!"

"Seeing my beloved descend into insanity." Ikusaba's gaze darkens considerably as she repeats Junko's words.

"Wait a minute…" Naegi points to himself. "Are you talking about me?"

...

Junko stares at the luckster with a dumbfounded look on her face. "Wow. Naegi, you know that my ugly sister here has a thing for you, right? Come on, you have to know. There's literally no way you can be this dense."

"Junko…" Ikusaba says hesitantly. "When you saw Matsuda die. Can you describe that?"

"Oooh!" Junko squeals excitedly. "You wanna hear, huh?"

Her eyes completely glaze over as she begins to recall what had happened. "Seeing Matsuda bleed out in front of me… Stomping on his face, as if he were a roach… Oh, it was so despairful that I could have literally killed myself right then and there!"

"The depressingly pathetic look of his body left me crying for _days_, Muku! It felt like my heart and soul had been tossed into a blender and then lit on fire! It was pure _bliss_!"

Ikusaba bites her lip as she tries to picture that happening to Naegi. She imagines Naegi dying in horrendus ways.

Strangling Naegi with her bare hands.

Unloading a full clip of bullets into Naegi.

Watching Naegi explode into a mess of blood and organs after stepping on a landmine.

Seeing Naegi get torn into pieces by guard dogs.

His pink blood, stains every single spot in her vision. She could imagine his lifeless, limp body lying on the floor pathetically. What used to be Makoto Naegi, the luckster that was filled with hope, succumbing to fatal injuries and becoming nothing more than a corpse.

"This… is despair?" Ikusaba's body starts to shake violently as sadness crashes into her mind, almost literally knocking her over. Thinking about Naegi messily dying caused hot tears to spill over her eyes, wetting her cheeks. It was horrible.

"That's it, sis! Do you feel it? Hold on to what you're feeling right now. _Embrace _it, hold it in your heart. Now multiply that shit by ten! That's how watching Naegi turn into despair would feel!"

Ikusaba collapses onto the floor, holding her shoulders as she starts to gasp for air. It was suffocating her. The despair was too much to hold. Junko wanted her to feel this, amplified by ten? She would kill herself if that happened.

"Ikusaba! Are you okay?!" Naegi was completely caught off guard by Ikusaba crying. In all of the two years Naegi had gone to school with her, and through the dozens of killing games he had experienced, she hadn't cried even once. He rushes over to her and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Ikusaba!"

"Hey, since it would make him time travel to the past again, why not kill him right now?! Wouldn't that be amazing?!" Junko suggests, eyes swirling madly. "It'll all reset anyway. Don't you want to feel _despair?_"

"... N-No." Ikusaba chokes out.

"Huh?" Naegi is caught off guard once again. Ikusaba had not hesitated to kill him once before. Plus, she was supposed to be the Ultimate Despair. Why would she refuse this chance so bluntly?

"... What?" Junko blinks.

"Junko… I've always tried my hardest to feel the same Despair as you do. But whenever I despair, it feels… horrible. Not the type of horrible that you describe, where you feel both pain and pleasure. It's just painful… nothing else." Ikusaba says quietly, avoiding eye contact with her sister.

"..."

Taking a shuddering breath, Ikusaba continues. "I went along with these plans for _your _sake, Junko. Whenever I see you happy, it always made me feel happy too. I lived for you. Junko, I _love _you. But I don't love despair."

"Ikusaba…" Naegi mutters.

"Puhuhuhuhuhu! Oh, Muku." Junko gives her a simple smile. "Muku, Muku, Muku…"

"J-Junko?"

"I don't love you." Junko deadpans.

Ikusaba flinches as if she had just been slapped.

"In fact, I hate you. You have always been a disappointment to me, _Mukuro_." Junko hisses. "Not once in my life have I ever thought of you as a real sister. You might as well have been a stranger for my entire life."

"No, Junko! That's not true!" Ikusaba cries out, nails digging into her palm. "You love me too, don't you Junko?! All the time we spent together…"

"Uh, you do realize I tried to kill you right? How many times do I have to say it, you bitch? I HATE YOU!" Junko screams.

"NO!" Ikusaba shouts back, tears pouring down faster than ever.

"YES! WHY DON'T YOU GET IT MUKURO?!" Junko was screaming so loud now that even the other students, who weren't even in the gym could probably hear her clearly."I DON'T LOVE YOU! IN FACT, NO ONE LOVES YOU! NOT ME, NOT NAEGI, NOT ANYONE ELSE IN THIS FUCKING SCHOOL! YOU'RE JUST A TOOL! YOU'RE NOT WANTED!"

Ikusaba was hyperventilating now. Her entire body trembled violently. Blood slowly seeps out of her palms as her nails cut into them. She welcomed the stinging pain. She would welcome anything to distract her right now.

"That's enough, Junko! STOP IT!" Naegi shouts. This was probably the angriest Naegi had ever been. How could Junko say this type of stuff to her sister, her own flesh and blood?! It was wrong. There was no excuse for this.

Turning back to Ikusaba, he grasps her hand so tightly that his fists turn white. A hint of nausea stirs in his stomach as her blood gushes onto Naegi's own hand.

"Ikusaba. Are you listening to me? Can you hear me?"

Still breathing heavily, Ikusaba weakly nods.

"Then hear this. It's the absolute, honest truth."

Ikusaba nods once more.

"Mukuro Ikusaba, you are wanted in this world. All of our classmates, including myself - hrk!"

Naegi is interrupted as someone grabs his neck from behind and lifts him up into the air.

_Junko._

She's been out of her binds for a while now. She was completely free to move however she wanted… but Naegi had turned his back on her.

_Stupid. Why am I so stupid?_

"Mukuro…" Junko whispers softly as she starts to squeeze. "You may be a disappointment and a waste of space, but you're still my sister."

"Ack!" Naegi gasps as his oxygen supply is cut off.

"Despite everything, you're family. You say you wanted to feel the same despair as me? I can help you with that."

Junko squeezes even harder, her nails dig into Naegi's flesh, causing prickles of blood to slowly flow out.

"You just need to fall into despair. Seeing this should do the trick, I think."

"N-Naegi…" Ikusaba could only stare up at Naegi, helpless as his life drains away, She had never felt so weak - so _vulnerable_. If she wanted, she could easily knock her sister away and free Naegi from her grasp.. But for some reason, it felt like that would have been an impossible task. It was as if a heavy weight had been set onto her shoulders. She couldn't do anything but watch.

_Ultimate Soldier? What a joke. _Ikusaba thinks bitterly to herself.

"..." Naegi's face turns purple. At the same time, Junko gives Ikusaba a small, gentle smile. It was one that you would expect to see from a mother, watching as her child receives a birthday present. Naegi's blood starts dripping out considerably faster now, staining the floor.

"NAEGI!" That wasn't the voice of Junko or Ikusaba. Had someone else gone into the gym? He _had _been taking quite a while… well, it didn't matter now.

"You know, I thought you already were in despair, sis. I guess I was wrong." Junko says tonelessly.

Ikusaba had still been grasping Naegi's hand this whole time. She couldn't let go.

"S-Stop…" She mutters weakly.

In response, Junko tightens her grip even harder. Blood sprays out with surprising force, splashing onto Ikusaba's face. She doesn't even blink.

"Don't worry, Muku." Junko purrs. "You will feel the despair you've always wanted to feel. Then, we can work together again."

"Doesn't that sound wonderful?"


	13. Act 2, Chapter 5

**The 40th Killing Game.**

Pain.

For what felt like the millionth time, Naegi was suffering from a headache that was so bad that Naegi thought his head was surely being split into two. It was as if an iron pike was being stabbed into his brain. This time though, there was something different.

It wasn't just his head. His throat was also searing, as if he had somehow swallowed fire. He could almost feel Junko's nails still digging into him, causing every nerve in his entire body to flare up.

Coughing roughly, Naegi tumbles out of his desk and tightly grasps his neck between both of his hands. It was as if he were trying to choke himself. When Junko had punctured his neck, it felt as if his throat was being flayed. Every single breath he took had sent a new wave of agony throughout him, swirling his vision. It was the worst pain Naegi could have possibly imagined.

Naegi retches once, and then twice. On the third, he vomits messily on the floor. The bile only served to sting his already agonizing throat. It was horrible. It was all so horrible.

And yet it still wasn't over. This time, it seemed that Junko had managed to murder him after all. And since he was murdered, that meant he was back here. He was going to have to go through several more weeks of the same exact thing in order to get back to where he was. Several more weeks of faking his emotions, several more weeks of lying to his friends.

He had been working for so long. All he wanted to do was to save his classmates. But now, he was back at the start. He had failed to accomplish anything. Naegi couldn't even successfully comfort Ikusaba… Junko had killed him before he could.

_Junko._

_Junko Enoshima._

_junkojunkojunkojunkojunkojunkojunkojunkojunkojunkojunko_

She was the catalyst. Everything that had happened - the Killing Game, the apocalypse, Naegi's time loop… it was all _her _doing. She had literally invented time travel and brought up the end of the world for one reason.

Despair.

Junko did all of this so that the world could feel Despair.

Naegi was completely exhausted. He was worn down. He was in pain.

But he wasn't in despair…

Yet.

Naegi had been killed dozens of times now. He hadn't ever felt the need to learn martial arts or self defense techniques - he was generally the type to approach everything with nonviolence. He had always felt that simply talking to someone could resolve matters peacefully. But being strangled by Junko… it was the last straw.

_I need to be able to defend myself._

Dragging himself up, Naegi shoves his hand into his desk and grabs the pamphlet. Not caring if it was dirty or not, he wiped the vomit from his mouth with it before tossing it onto the floor. Slowly, he walks down to the main hall, getting ready to introduce himself to his classmates.

Again.

* * *

"Hey Ogami… I know that you said that I'm not fit to be your training partner, but… can you train me in the way of martial arts?" Naegi glances up at Ogami hopefully.

It was the day after Naegi saved Ikusaba - he had stopped by Maizono's murder and Ikusaba's murder, all in the same way. Naegi approached Ogami just after they had wrapped up the usual morning meetings to drop this question on her.

Ogami looks at Naegi strangely. "Hm. You didn't strike me as the type to pursue martial arts, Naegi."

Asahina bobs her head up and down. "Just what I was about to say! No offense, but you look like you couldn't hurt a fly!" She had been hovering around Ogami, as usual.

Naegi shrugs and grins sheepishly. "Well… I don't think that anyone would try to attack me, but better to be safe than sorry, right?"

"... Very well. I would be happy to give you lessons."

Naegi nods, apparent relief spreading through his face. He wasn't surprised though - Naegi knew that Ogami wasn't the type to turn down a request like this. Acting relieved was what a _regular _Naegi would do, one who wasn't plagued with memories of thirty-nine killing games. "Thanks, Ogami!"

"Sakura's the best!" Asahina says excitedly. "I'm sure that you will toughen up in no time, Naegi!"

"We can do our lessons in the gym, after the morning meetings." Ogami glances at him with a touch of curiosity. "I wonder…"

"Huh?"

"No, it is nothing. Farewell."

Naegi wasn't stupid. He knew that muscle gain wouldn't matter at all, given that he basically transfers into a new body every time a new killing game began. Working out wouldn't matter as all of his progress would just be reset. But if he learned more tactical ways of fighting, such as pressure points and martial arts, then that could carry over as muscle memory.

The main purpose of doing this, obviously, was so that Naegi would be able to defend himself. He would prefer it if he stopped getting killed.

But Naegi had a different motive, one that was a bit more selfish - he wanted to keep himself entertained.

It was like reading a novel over and over again. You skim over the parts you already know - reading it, but not really paying attention. Except this wasn't a novel - Naegi couldn't simply fast forward through the parts he had already gone through. Doing things differently, such as asking for Ogami to train him, helped keep him from getting bored.

It was hard at first - Ogami's training was rather harsh, and Naegi practically collapsed after the first fifteen minutes. But just like when he had practiced acting with Celeste, he slowly got better and better.

Naegi had spent a lot of time with Ogami, but he still had tons of free time after their lessons. He didn't really have much to do, so he had decided that he would investigate the school for any clues on his situation. Surely, Junko must have left a clue or some piece of evidence about Naegi's time traveling… right?

Well if she did, then she must have hidden them pretty well.

Because through the next several killing games, Naegi finds nothing in his investigations.

Nothing.

* * *

**The 54th Killing Game.**

The only people in the gym were Naegi and Junko.

It was all the same situation as when he first got choked to death by Junko, save for two key details. First, Naegi had made sure to lock the gym doors so that Ikusaba couldn't interrupt them. Knowing her, she could probably just smash down the door if she wanted to, but hopefully she wouldn't resort to something like that. Trying to break down a door wouldn't go unnoticed by either of them anyway.

"Oh, Naegi. Are you gonna have your way with me before deciding my faith? Naughty boy!"

The second…

"I'll be taking _these_." Naegi walks over to Junko and snatches both of her Monokuma-themed hairclips away. He pulled a bit too hard though, and he ended up getting a few stray hairs along with the pins.

"Ow! That hurt!" Junko whines. "What's the big deal?"

"Come on, Junko." Naegi sighs and puts both of her clips into his pocket, so she couldn't try to take them from his hands or anything. "You already know what the big deal is."

"Alright, alright." Junko's face breaks out into an eager smile. She looked like a kid who had just been told by their parents that they were about to go to an amusement park. Innocent in every way. "How many times has it been so far, huh? I wanna know! Tell me tell me tell me!"

Naegi's eyebrows scrunch up as he attempts to recall. He really had been trying to keep count, but with the time gaps in between them being so large, he had lost count more than a few times. "I'm not sure… but at least fifty by this point."

Junko pouts sourly. "Awwww, really? I woulda guessed at _least _a hundred. I mean, look at the bags under your eyes! Little ol' Naegi looks like a corpse!"

"Junko." Naegi says, voice suddenly becoming scratchy. He tries to swallow, but found that he couldn't. His throat was as dry as a desert. "Can't… you just tell me how I can stop all of this?"

"Alright." Junko's face suddenly mellows out as she takes a deep breath. "I'll tell you. The honest to god truth on how you can get out of this mess."

"Huh?" Naegi couldn't help but drop his jaw at Junko's sudden change of heart. "Really?"

"Yep. Just invent your own time machine." Junko deadpans.

Naegi sighs deeply. "Junko… Don't you care about your games being fair? In the first Killing Game, you gave everyone a chance to investigate. You gave everyone a fair chance at discovering your identity, even though one of us was the Ultimate Detective. Though you've lied and tried to cheat, you owned up to it when we figured everything out. Despite all of my time loops, I still remember the first game well. You clearly care about giving us a fair chance - so that you could possibly feel the despair of defeat."

…

"So just tell me - have you really left me a chance? I've investigated the school dozens of times, and found nothing that could point me to anything."

…

Junko's face was neutral when she finally responded. "Naegi, do you know why I'm obsessed with Despair?"

Naegi blinks. "Because you're bored, right?"

"Yep." Junko's eyes seem to glaze over as she begins to talk. "For my whole life, nothing was fun. I knew everything that was going to happen. I couldn't _feel _like a normal person either. I just felt empty, all the time, At first, I thought that this was normal. But then I heard about how people felt things like 'happiness' and 'excitement'."

"What were those things? I tried asking other people about these 'feelings', but they all just gave me a weird look. As if I was crazy. When people looked at me like that, I felt annoyed. It was one of the few things that I _could _feel - annoyance. I hated it. I just wanted to feel something else, something happy. I tried to act as if I could feel emotions, but that didn't help. But as I grew up, I realized that this was impossible. No matter how much I tried, I could never feel happy. So what _could _I feel?"

…

"After I failed to make myself feel happy, I tried to make myself feel surprised. I watched movies that had twists and turns, I went to haunted houses whenever they were in season, I even tried to read thriller and horror books. Nothing worked. I just felt _bored_, and I hated it. I was beginning to think that maybe I was just stuck with feeling irritated at my own boredom for the rest of my life. But the third time was the charm."

"You tried despair." Naegi says softly.

"I had a friend - Yasuke Matsuda. He was one of the only friends I have ever really had. Do you know what I did to feel despair? I built a giant sand castle in front of Yasuke and right as I was about to finish, I secretly demolished it. Then, I acted like someone else had destroyed it. I even shed some crocodile tears." Despite the scene she was recollecting, Junko's expression hasn't changed one bit. Her tone was disturbingly monotone and her eyes had as much life in them as a pair of marbles. "He was furious. Watching Yasuke run around like that, desperately searching for whoever destroyed my sand castle… it made me feel despair. Why had I lied to him? Why had I destroyed something that I spent so much time working on? These despairful questions ran across my head dozens of times. And with that despair, came surprise and happiness. I was surprised that I was actually feeling something and at the same time, I was happy that I _was _feeling something."

"Don't you see, Naegi? Despair is the only way that I can continue living. And causing the despair of others is the best way to make me feel some of my own despair."

...

Face still completely neutral, Junko begins to talk in a listless fashion. There seemed to be zero emotion behind her words, and the lack of her usual energy was enough to send a shiver down Naegi's spine.

"_You were found guilty. Which means you lost the game"_ Junko says at a painstakingly slow rate. "_Because you have lost the game, you have been condemned to execution._"

…

"Fne." Naegi suppresses the urge to vomit as he looks away from Junko. He couldn't stand to look at her any longer. "I'll just find a way out on my own. I don't need your hints." With that said, Naegi turns around and goes to the gym doors in order to let everyone back in.

As soon as he unlocks them, they practically swing open. The doors barely miss Naegi, who had managed to jump back in time. In front of him, there was Ikusaba.

"Are you finished?" Ikusaba asks tonelessly. Though she seemed nonchalant, Naegi could see hints of irritation on her face.

"Erm… yeah." Naegi nods. "Um, can you bring me to everyone else? I'm done talking to Junko."

Reluctantly, Ikusaba nods and motions for Naegi to follow her. As she turns around however, Naegi couldn't help but see a small twinge of disappointment register on her face.

* * *

"Before you ask, I do believe you. Your 'predictions' have all come true. So I suppose that there's no real reason to doubt you."

Naegi pulled aside Kirigiri to talk to her about his plan. With her being the Ultimate Detective, she could really help him out after all. During the loops where he had invested time into investigating the school, he had asked for her help a few times, but he mainly had worked alone. Why he had decided to investigate solo, Naegi wasn't really sure himself.

During this loop, Naegi had already told her about his time traveling and most of the important details that came along with it. Like last time, he told her a couple of predictions in order to prove that he knew about the future.

"Thanks Kirigiri. But I didn't pull you aside to ask you about that - I want your opinion on a plan."

Kirigiri motions with her hand for Naegi to continue.

"I… I want to stay inside of Hope's Peak. During our time here, I want to investigate the school and find any hints about my situation as well as any hints on how to break me out of it. Since we have access to the control room through Ikusaba, unlocking all of the rooms in this school shouldn't be much of an issue."

Kirigiri stares at Naegi with mild surprise. "That's a surprisingly selfish plan."

"Huh?"

"Keeping all of us in here just so that you can investigate your own problem. It's selfish no matter how you put it." Kirigiri deadpans.

Naegi's face reddens. Kirigiri was right - what he wanted to do was pretty selfish. But he couldn't help it. He rarely got the opportunity to investigate the entire school. In fact, he had only gotten the chance once - during the first Killing Game. Even when Ikusaba had gotten access to the control room, he was always sent back in time by Junko before he could do anything else.

"I can't really blame you though." Kirigiri sighs. "An infinite time loop... To be blunt, it sounds like hell. It's basically immortality but worse. You said that you wanted my opinion? I think you should go along with it. If you really are a time traveler, then none of this will matter anyway right? We're just going to go back to the past again."

Kirigiri was right, of course. He would just go back in the past in the end and none of his classmates would remember anything. The thought of it still made him feel guilty though. He was _using _his friends just to save himself from a bad fate… even if the 'bad fate' was basically an eternity of torture.

"O-Okay." Naegi says hesitantly. "I'm going to find a way out of this time loop. After that, I'll save everyone again. Then we can all get out of here together."

* * *

"I think the right thing to do would be to keep Junko alive. We stay here, safe within the school just like we promised the principal. Until we can ensure that Junko is free from Despair, we should keep living here."

Naegi looks at the rest of his classmates as they stand outside of the gym, and more importantly, outside of Junko's earshot.

"S-Stay here?" Fujisaki asks nervously.

"Yeah. We can leave anytime we want, right? At the very least, we should think it over. It's not like we have a time limit or anything." Naegi explains.

"Ah, taking the safe route Mr. Naegi?" Yamada nods in approval, a wry grin on his face. "Can't say that I'm surprised. You _are _quite the passive student."

"We can tie her up or lock her away to make sure that she doesn't try to do anything fucked up." Kuwata suggests.

"Keeping her imprisoned is obviously the optimal choice." Togami says coldly. "Lock her into one of the dorm rooms and deliver food to her on a daily basis and keep a constant guard outside of her room."

Hagakure shrugs. "I dunno man, isn't that kind of inhumane or something?"

"Idiot. Do you think that there's any alternative save for execution?"

"Well, we c-could take her outside." Fujisaki says hesitantly. "I-I mean, I'm sure there are therapists out there who could help, right?"

Ikusaba clears her throat. "Seeing that you're all so divided… Why don't we take a vote?"

Naegi nods. "It would be more fair and organized to vote. Why not?"

"Is there anyone here who would like to stay inside of the school for the time being?"

Nine hands go up: Naegi, Kirigiri, Yamada, Ishimaru, Owada, Maizono, Kuwata, Togami, and Fukawa."

"And those who would want to go to the outside world right away?"

Five hands go up. Ogami, Asahina, Hagakure, Celeste, and Fujisaki.

Naegi glances at Ikusaba curiously. "You're not voting, Ikusaba?" They weren't discussing Junko's life this time, but Ikusaba seemed to insist on remaining neutral.

Ikusaba shrugs nonchalantly. "I honestly don't have a preference… anyway, I guess it's decided."

The other six students who had been outvoted seemed a bit downcast, but they still accepted the outcome - it wasn't like they were going to stay here for the rest of their lives anyway. Besides, now with Junko restrained, they wouldn't need to fear the Killing Game anymore.

"Ikusaba, can you unlock the next floor as well as all of the other locked doors?" Kirigiri asks.

"I'll get to that right now."

As Ikusaba leaves, the rest of the students go back to Junko was stilled tied up on the floor. In order to prevent Junko from escaping, Naegi had actually doubled up her binds, leaving pretty much zero room for her to even move. She was snoring in an exaggerated manner, apparently fast asleep.

"Zzzzzz…"

J-Junko?" Fujisaki says hesitantly.

"Huh?" Junko's eyes snap open and she quickly looks around. "Oh, you people. Man, you guys took so long that I fell dead asleep! I was so bored!"

"We've decided that we will stay here." Naegi says firmly. "You will be restrained in one of the rooms in this school."

"Oh, I kind of figured that out myself." Junko shrugs. "Let me just ask Naegi - how many times?"

"Huh?"

"How many times will you go through this before you finally learn that you can't beat despair?" Junko says, tsking as she takes off her binds. Somehow, she had managed to untie herself once again, despite Naegi's best efforts. The ropes fall to her feet neatly, coiling up like a snake. "You can't escape your punishment."

The rest of his classmates, save for Kirigiri, looks on in confusion.

Naegi quickly turns to Ogami. "Erm, Ogami! Can you please hold onto her before she-"

_*SMASH*_

Before Naegi could finish his sentence, Junko slams the heel of her boot down onto the floor as hard as possible. The entire floorboard shifts downwards and a small clicking noise sounds out. It was quiet, so quiet that it was almost stuffed out by the ambient noise alone. But to Naegi, it felt like the clicking noise was loud enough to shatter his eardrums.

"More than just one trigger, Naegi. More then just two, more then just three, more then just four… You're gonna fuckin off yourself before you find all of the ways that I can send you back."

Naegi had set up his plan and was ready to investigate the entire school.

But it didn't matter.

It never mattered.

* * *

**The 55th Killing Game.**


	14. Act 2, Chapter 6

"_How many times will you go through this before you finally learn that you can't beat despair?"_

Despite all that he's gone through, Naegi was still naive. He should have known that whatever he said, no matter what he did, Junko wouldn't submit. He would fight to the end to see him fall under her 'punishment', and it was only now that he realized it.

_I need to investigate this school without tipping her off… If she finds out what I'm trying to do, Junko will just send me back in time again. I have no idea how many failsafes Junko has, but she probably has so many that it wouldn't be worth my time._

…

Not worth his time? The way he was now, time had no worth or meaning to him. In fact, he really _could _just keep going back in time until he finally traps Junko. But if he tried to do that, he probably would really go insane.

Naegi laughs humorlessly. It was a shockingly empty laugh, one that even scared himself. It didn't sound like him at all - it was too robotic, too emotionless. Was that really what he sounded like? Was that what lay beneath the layers of acting Naegi had been putting up?

Shivering slightly, Naegi sits up in his bed. Any time now, Maizono would come visit his room. She would apologize, and then tell him that someone had tried to get into her room. After that, she would ask to switch rooms for the night. If Naegi wanted to, he could probably recite her entire speech by heart. He had memorized everything she said here - not because he tried to, but because those words had seared itself into his brain.

_*knock knock*_

"Here we go." Naegi mutters to himself. Slowly, he gets up from his bed and walks over to his door. This time, it felt like there were weights tied to his limbs, weighing him down. This was because he had a plan this time. A plan that would give him and Kirigiri the chance to investigate the entire school. It was a desperate move, something that Naegi would have never thought of doing. But he was backed into a corner - or at least that was what it felt like.

Naegi opens the door. As expected, Maizono was standing there weakly.

"Sayaka? What are you doing out here so late?" Naegi asks, fake concern tainting his voice. He knew that she was making herself look weaker so that she could convince him to let her stay in his room. But he also knew that she really _did _feel weak from the motive video. She was just playing it up a bit.

"Sorry to bother you, but something weird just happened." Maizono says softly.

"Something weird?" Naegi replies.

The only chance that Naegi has ever gotten to investigate the whole school was when Junko had unlocked everything for the final case, which happened right after Naegi's failed execution. He had gotten practically unrestricted access to every room in the school. But in order to get to that point…

His friends would have to die.

"Just a little while ago, I was laying down in my room. And all of the sudden, my door started rattling and shaking."

Maizono would have to be murdered.

Kuwata would have to be executed.

And many more would have to die in the same fashion. All of this was necessary if Naegi wanted to reach the 'end point' of this Killing Game. He had spent the hours leading up to now agonizing over his choice. Sure, time traveling meant that everyone could just be revived again. He wasn't going to escape the time loop yet, just find information. So on paper, wouldn't letting his friends die be worth it?

On paper, yes. But in practice?

...

"So, what happened?" Naegi asks, but only for the second time.

"After a while, it just… stopped. I let some time go by, then I got up and opened the door to check outside. But there was nobody there." Maizono shivers and looks down at the floor pitifully.

"Someone tried to force their way into your room? But who would do that?"

_This won't be pretty. _Naegi thinks bitterly to himself.

* * *

Naegi runs from the cafeteria as soon as the other students started to discuss her absence. It was the same as last time - he switched rooms with Maizono and the next morning, she was absent from the meeting. Naegi knew fully well what happened but still panicked and ran to his room to check on her anyway. It wasn't even an act - he just felt compelled to do so.

He enters the room and immediately enters his restroom.

Naegi had made the decision to let Maizono attempt her murder plan. He willingly decided that temporarily sacrificing his friends would be an even trade for stopping Junko's plan.

_This isn't the wrong choice. It doesn't matter anyway. Everyone will come back to life, just like how they've always been doing. This is actually for their own good. _Naegi tries to reassure himself, but it doesn't stop the crushing weight of guilt from falling onto his heart.

The guilt of course, came from the body that was laying down right in front of him. There it was, Maizono's body. She was sitting down on the floor up against a wall. Like last time, a knife was stuck into her corpse and the word LEON was written upside down next to her.

The last time he had seen this, he had screamed and fainted. That was because he wasn't expecting it.

This time, Naegi didn't do any of that. All he did was stand there silently, a feeling of sickening guilt rising up his chest. Resisting the urge to vomit, Naegi suddenly remembers that he should act. If he didn't, then the Killing Game wouldn't go the same way. Maizono's death would be in vain.

_Vain… it doesn't matter if it's in vain. _Naegi thinks bitterly. _I'll just go through it again anyway. None of this even matters. But I'll try anyway. I'll try because it's what I have to do. I have to act, and then I'll have to let my friends kill each other. I'll let them kill each other because I want to save them._

_That's why I'm doing this. _

"AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!" Naegi screams.

* * *

The investigation goes by in a blur. Naegi kind of just wandered around his dorm aimlessly with a blank look on his face. Somewhere in the back of his head, he had registered that Ikusaba had died as well. He didn't see it happen, nor did anyone tell him about it, but he knew. Ikusaba was dead. Soon, Kuwata would join her. Just like last time, everyone treated him as if he were the killer. He wasn't really worried though - he knew that he could easily prove that he didn't murder Maizono.

In the blink of an eye, Naegi suddenly finds himself standing in the school's trial grounds. He hadn't even noticed that they had all walked here. His mind seemed cloudy - he couldn't focus too much on anything without getting a headache. All he could think about was the fact that his friends were dying again. He was replaying a nightmare.

"... Naegi, do you have a rebuttal? You have been keeping rather quiet lately."

Kirigiri's sharp voice breaks through his thoughts. Blinking, Naegi looks around. All of his classmates were staring at him - some looked suspicious, and some looked amused. Monokuma in particular was giggling like a schoolchild, spectating them with his ever present grin.

"Ah." Naegi numbly nods. He didn't know what accusation had been thrown at him, but proving Kuwata to be the killer would be easy enough. "Well, Maizono left that message in her dying moments, right? 11037. If you look at it upside down, then it spells out LEON."

…

"Woah! Naegs is right dudes!" Hagakure exclaims. "Does that mean he didn't do it?"

"What?!" Kuwata looks at him incredulously, face quickly turning red. "Naegi obviously planted that message there! He's just tryna frame me! Naegi's the killer, not me!"

"But that's not all." Naegi continues. "In the trash compactor room - there was Hagakure's broken crystal ball next to the incinerator, along with a white piece of fabric. It was during the night, but there were gaps between the gates. Being the Ultimate Baseball Player, you could have thrown your blood-stained clothes into the incinerator and then used the ball to press the button to activate it."

"Bullshit!" Kuwata yells.

"By the way… Maizono's room had my nameplate on it, and my room had her nameplate on it. They were switched around by Maizono. This was because Maizono was planning to murder Kuwata, by inviting him to 'her' room."

"Bullshit!" Kuwata repeats. There was an angry batch of veins sticking out of his forehead and one of his eyes was twitching. He looked so furious that he looked like he could have exploded at any moment. "You don't got a lick of evidence! I'm not taking this shit!"

"Actually…" Kirigiri raises her hand. "There was a notepad in Naegi's room that proves that she _did _invite someone over during the night. A page was torn out, but I shaded in the next page to find the indentations. She most definitely wrote a note to _someone_.

Yamada shifts around uncomfortably. "Erm, I suppose that this means… Mr. Naegi is not the killer?"

Celeste smiles softly. "I suppose not. He disproved our accusations rather quickly, I must say. Perhaps our luckster is sharper then he appears to be."

"No! NONONONONONONONONONO!" Kuwata screams. "You don't got no evidence! It's all circumstantial! She was found in _your _room, that means you killed her! Stupid!"

Naegi sighs heavily. He forgot how desperate Kuwata was during this case. But if he recalled correctly, he could show him another piece of evidence - the one about the tool kit. That shut him up last time, and that should shut him up this time.

And it did.

* * *

Naegi sits on his bed and stares at his wall. He couldn't sleep, not after what just happened. He checked and just like last time, Maizono's body was gone without a single trace. And just like last time, Kuwata was dead. He was executed in the same way, stoned by thousands of baseballs. Naegi didn't want to watch his execution again, but he did anyway. Once again, guilt rises in his chest as he watches Kuwata die. All of this was _his _fault. In fact, you could say that he was as guilty as Monokuma was at this point. It didn't matter if all of it would reset in the end. It didn't matter if he was doing this so that he could actually save them.

_They aren't really dead._

Naegi must have repeated this to himself thousands of times by now. It was a half truth. Right now, they really _were_ dead. Maizono, Kuwata, and Ikusaba were all dead. Their hearts had stopped beating and their brains had stopped working. Not a single ounce of life remained in their corpses.

But it would all just reset. In fact, Naegi could kill himself right now. He could kill himself, and see them again. They would be back to the land of the living. But if he did that, then all of this would have been a waste of time. There would be little point in going back _now_.

So Naegi sticks to the plan - he goes through the whole Killing Game in the same way. His mask had slipped during the first trail, but he acted through the rest with ease. He probably didn't even need to act, as Junko wouldn't have accused him of being a traitor this time around. But he was so used to faking his emotions that he acted anyway. He would act, even if he didn't need to.

Naegi goes through the ropes again. He goes through each day, each investigation, each trial, everything. Of course, Naegi couldn't do it all perfectly - but he went through it well. The first Killing Game was something that Naegi could still recall clearly. From Naegi's perspective, it had happened over a year ago. Despite this, he could remember it as if it had happened yesterday.

So he does it all again.

He sits back and watches each and every death unfold in front of him. For every person that dies, Naegi feels their soul weighing down on his heart. Despite this, he moves on anyway. Like he keeps telling himself: They aren't really dead.

* * *

_*BANG*_

Naegi sits in his desk, staring straight forward as a Monokuma lectures him. He slowly moves backwards as an incredibly large compactor bangs on the floor behind him. Each impact caused the entire room to tremble, almost like a small earthquake.

_*BANG*_

It was nearly time. Naegi had finally reached the end. Naegi had expected to be relieved once he got to this point. But he doesn't feel relieved - he just feels empty. As if someone had sucked the soul out of him. He wasn't scared at all either. After all, he knew that this execution would fail completely, and that Kirigiri would save him from being trapped in the trash room.

_*BANG*_

Naegi's desk finally comes underneath the compactor. It stalls.

Fujisaki's face appears on a screen - no, that wasn't right. Fujisaki is dead. Owada had murdered him by smashing his head in with a dumbbell. After that, Owada was executed for his crimes. _Alter Ego's _face appears on a screen, replacing the mocking face of Monokuma. The compactor doesn't fall. It doesn't kill Naegi - instead, his desk just falls backwards into the open trash chute.

Naegi, along with the desk he had been sitting in, falls into the garbage dump. Since Naegi had been bracing himself, he managed to keep consciousness after the fall. Still, falling from such a height was bound to hurt quite a bit. Really, Naegi was lucky that he hadn't died.

"Ah… that smarts." Naegi groans as he pries himself out of the mangled mess that was once a desk.

All there was to do now was wait for Kirigiri. Naegi was prepared though. Before the trial, he had thrown a couple bottles of water and some food along with a book down the trash chute. This would make the wait a little less boring.

Sighing, Naegi looks up into the abyss he had fallen from. It was quite a large distance - if Naegi weren't so lucky, he would have probably broken a few bones or fractured his skull.

Now that he had a bunch of time on his hands, he rethinks things one more time.

In order to get to this point, he had to sacrifice Maizono, Ikusaba, Kuwata, Fujisaki, Owada, Ishimaru, Yamada, Celeste, and Sakura. That was well over half of his friends, of his classmates. Now, they were little more than corpses.

Despite his numbness, Naegi still felt the weight of their deaths on his soul. He had known them for years. They had gone to school together, survived the apocalypse together, and went through this damned killing game together more times then Naegi could remember.

"They aren't really dead." Naegi says out loud, as to reassure himself. This wasn't permanent. For their sakes, Naegi will escape this hellish time loop.

* * *

_*CRUNCH*_

Jumping a bit, Naegi glances over to the newest pile of garbage that had been thrown down. Naegi quickly discards his empty bottles of water and his book and quickly walks over to the mound of trash. He knew that Kirigiri was somewhere in there, but he _shouldn't _have known it. Once again, Naegi puts on his mask. He would not let things go wrong _now _of all times.

"I wonder if there's something still edible in here." Naegi mutters to the garbage pile, rummaging through it.

"I suppose that I could be considered edible, but I wouldn't recommend trying it." A familiar stoic voice comes from the pile as something rises up from the trash. She seemed completely unperturbed by the fact that she was covered in garbage.

"Oh! Kirigiri?!" Naegi exclaims.

"This place smells awful." Kirigiri brushes off some trash from her shoulders and shoots a glance at Naegi. Just like last time, Kirigiri had an empty cup of noodles on her head. It could be sort of strange how some things lined up like that. "You look like you're doing better than I expected."

"Wh-What are you doing here?!" Naegi asks incredulously.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to help you."

"Really?" Naegi says hopefully.

"Here." Kirigiri hands him a plastic wrapped red bean bun, as well as a fresh bottle of water. "I imagine that you're quite hungry, considering the fact that you were about to go through a pile of garbage."

"Thanks a lot, Kirigiri!" Naegi greedily shoves the bun into his mouth and gulps down the water. He wasn't actually that hungry, but it would be suspicious if Naegi didn't act like he was. As he finishes, Naegi paths his stomach with a satisfied look. "Ah, now I have the energy to keep going."

"So, you still haven't given up." Kirigiri says softly.

"Of course not! After all, the fact that I can keep going forward is about all that I'm good at anyway…"

"Well, that's not such a bad thing to be good at."

"But Kirigiri… Why did you come down to rescue me?"

"To pay a debt. During the trial, you knew that I was lying. Despite this, you didn't say anything. I knew that you were covering for me, yet I didn't do or say anything to help you. I let Monokuma try to execute you. I abandoned you."

Naegi shakes his head. "But you came down here to save me! You didn't abandon me."

Kirigiri narrows her eyes. "No, I did abandon you. I abandoned you in order to save my own life. You saved me life, but I couldn't bring myself to return the favor during the trial. Liste, I'm not trying to make excuses but there was a reason why I _had _to live."

"The reason you had to live?" Naegi gives her a questioning glance.

"I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything, including the reason I have to survive."

…

_I already know all of this. I know everything. In fact, I know more then even Kirigiri knows. But I guess I should keep up this act for a small while longer._

* * *

"Looks like this is it." Naegi stops climbing up the ladder and glances down at Kirigiri. The climb up here was both excruciatingly boring and exhausting. Not only did he have the monotonous task of climbing back up to the school, but he also had to go back and forth with Kirigiri on her expositional dialogue. The climb felt like it took days.

"On the other side, Hope's Peak is waiting for us." Kirigiri says with a slight hint of exhaustion in her voice.

"I guess this connects to the hatch near the trash room, huh? Well, here goes nothing." Naegi says, putting out his right hand to push up against the hatch.

_*Creak*_

It opened with ease.

"Well, we're back. Finally." Naegi gets up from the ladder and sits on the ground, stretching his arms. "That took forever…"

"I can't believe how long that ladder was." Kirigiri says, sitting down next to Naegi.

"So… now what do we do?" Naegi asks in a hushed whisper, as if the mastermind might have been listening in on them. "Of course, I'm glad that I didn't die. But if Monokuma finds out, then he might just execute me again. I'm worried about you too, Kirigiri. You helped me, so Monokuma might…"

"Well, let's just ask the mastermind himself." Kirigiri deadpans.

"W-What?!"

"With the security cameras all around the building, we won't be able to hide for long anyway. Trying to hide from the mastermind would just be wasting time at this point."

Naegi rubs the back of his head. "I suppose that's true."

"Don't worry." Kirigiri says firmly. "What you think will happen, won't. Trust me."

Naegi almost bursts out laughing as he hears this. She thinks that he didn't know what would happen? No, everything will happen exactly the way he thinks it will. He remembers what happens after this almost perfectly. In fact, he could have written an entire script and it would have probably been accurate.

"The mastermind is the one ensnared here." Kirigiri continues. "They stood exposed during the investigation into Ikusaba's death. There was a moment where the mastermind let their guard down. If we can talk to Monokuma, we can confirm it. And it'll be better for us if we go to him directly before he finds out that you escaped."

_What an incredibly high stakes plan… Not like I'm one to criticise though. I pretty much put the lives of everyone here on the line with my plan. They all died so that I could continue._

Then, Naegi remembers that he could practically bring them back to life. Another fit of laughter threatens to escape him, but he somehow manages to swallow it.

"Monokuma should be in the gym. Let's get going." Kirigiri says, standing up from the floor.

Right. It was time for the last hurdle. And then, finally, Naegi could solve this issue. Even if he didn't get it on the first try, he would get it on the second, third, or even hundredth try. He would have unrestricted access to the _entire _school. There _must _be a clue hidden somewhere.

Naegi would solve this issue. He would, at last, be able to save _everyone_.

And they would stay saved.

Forever.


	15. Act 2, Chapter 7

"Ahh, this is a school announcement. You've all probably figured this out by now, but at this point, the killing game has now entered 'True Ending' mode. So in the name of fairness, I will unlock every room in the school! Look wherever you want! Solve the mystery in whatever way you see fit! Puhuhu… Then we can all meet up at the class trial, okay?"

Naegi finally allows himself to let out a sigh of relief. Now, all he needed to do was to ally himself with Kirigiri. She was the Ultimate Detective after all. It would certainly help things along. The hard part was going to be telling her about how he deceived her, along with everyone else.

"Well, I'd better get going. I have an endless list of things that I need to check." Kirigiri and Naegi were the only two people in the cafeteria. Everyone else had already gone off to do their own investigations. They had all agreed that investigating independently would be more efficient than being together, since they had a lot of ground to cover.

"Kirigiri." Naegi says cautiously. "I need to tell you something important."

"What is it?"

"I… erm, I'm from the future. I've been through all of this already, including the last trial. I kind of already know all about the secrets of this school and why we're here."

Kirigiri narrows her eyes. "Excuse me?"

"Mukuro Ikusaba _was_ Junko Enoshima. She was posing as her in the beginning and was originally meant to just be taken out of the game through fake imprisonment. On a whim, Junko, the real mastermind, decided to execute her instead. She saved the body and then re-used it for the case."

"..."

"You weren't the only one with amnesia either. All of us had it too - it's just that you had the worst case of it. Two years of our memories were erased - memories of the outside world and our time spent together as classmates. When we experienced going through the gates to enter Hope's Peak, only to faint afterwards was because that was the cutoff for the memory erasure. What we forgot was that we all locked ourselves in here volun-"

Kirigiri puts up her hand, cutting Naegi off. She seemed uncharacteristically puzzled, but it wasn't as if Naegi could blame her for feeling that way. He had just dropped a giant load of information on her after all. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

"So that you won't have to spend time investigating the school." Naegi says simply.

"For the entire killing game, you knew everything that was going to happen? Each murder, each trial, you knew about all of them. But you didn't try to stop anything - you just let those people die. Why?" Kirigiri's tone wasn't accusatory or angry. She just wanted to know why.

Naegi sighs and looks down at the floor. "I'm stuck in some sort of time loop. Junko trapped me in one so that I could feel despair or something. This situation is the only one I know of where we would get limitless access to investigate the entire school. That's why…"

Naegi takes a deep breath.

"Kirigiri, will you help me investigate this time loop? I want… No, I _need _to escape it. Otherwise, I would have to go through all of this again and again, forever."

"..."

"Tell me everything."

So he does. He spends fifteen minutes of what little time they had telling her his story. He only goes over significant events in order to save time - if he told her about each and every loop he went through, then they would be here for hours. Throughout his entire recounting, Kirigiri only mutters to herself while occasionally shaking her head.

"So after Junko kicked the floorboard, I was sent back here again. You already know everything that happened this time around, right?"

"All I know is that you lied." Kirigiri deadpans.

"W-What?" Naegi stammers.

"For several weeks, you lied through your teeth about everything." Kirigiri continues, with a slightly irritated expression. "You knew every single event that was going to pass and not only did you not try to stop them, but you feigned ignorance. In a way, you're not so different from the mastermind."

At this, Naegi couldn't help but wince. That was a low blow, but not entirely untrue. Keeping silent about the mastermind made him a sort of accomplice, despite the fact that he had good reasons to stay silent.

"I suppose that I can't blame you for deceiving us, but…" Kirigiri scowls at him. "You knew everything, including about the last trial. I suppose that you also knew that I would have you take the fall and be executed? And that I would jump down to try and save you?"

"Well-"

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Kirigiri interrupts. "I can understand not telling me during the early parts of the game, but at the very least you should have told me while we were alone in the trash chute. It's not like there are any cameras down there. In fact, the mastermind didn't even know you were alive. That seemed like a much better opportunity to tell me about this."

Naegi winces again. Yet another good point. Talking to Kirigiri out in the open like this was actually very risky. For all he knew, Junko was listening in on them at this very moment. Telling her about his situation back in the trash chute would have been safer and saved time.

"I guess I just didn't really think about it." Nagei admits quietly.

"You didn't think about it." Kirigiri echoes. "You didn't _think _about it."

"Well, you know I…" Naegi's voice dries up in his throat. No, he didn't have any real excuse for this. He was just so focused on getting to the investigation part that he didn't stop to consider his plan. "Ah. Sorry, I guess." Naegi mumbles, face turning red.

"Naegi." Kirigiri says in an icily cold tone. Her face was neutral, but Naegi could sense frustration and anger in her. "If you've lied to _everyone _for this whole time, how can I know that you aren't lying right now? In fact, you're saying that I don't need to waste time investigating. Perhaps this is an attempt at misdirection."

"No! It's nothing like that!" Naegi says quickly. This was what he was afraid of from the start, and perhaps part of the reason why he put off telling Kirigiri about this for so long. He was afraid that Kirigiri would think that he was the mastermind, or working for him. "Come on, you believed me the other times I told you about this!"

"That's from _your _perspective." Kirigiri says sharply. "I don't remember going through this game more then once, and neither does anyone else. You have no evidence that what you say is the truth, besides for the fact that you know more than you should about the killing game and the other students. And that doubles as evidence that you're working for the mastermind."

"Kirigiri." Naegi says in a pleading tone. "Really, I'm telling the truth. What can I do to prove it to you?"

Kirigiri only sighs before turning away from Naegi. "... To tell the truth, my instincts are telling me that you're being truthful here. However, my instincts also didn't detect that you were lying during the killing game. I want to believe you, but I can't. Not right now. I'm sorry Naegi, but you will have to investigate on your own. Goodbye."

Before Naegi could say anything, Kirigiri quickly walks away from him, muttering under her breath as she did so. Naegi tries to call out to her, to try to convince her to help him but he found himself unable to say anything. He just stood there stupidly, staring at her shrinking figure as his stomach starts sinking.

As she disappears from the room, Naegi feels a small part of his hope vanish with her.

Then, Naegi remembered.

_I can just go back and try to convince her again._

That, of course would mean that Naegi would have to let all of his friends die again. He could look on in silence as they murder each other, only speaking to bring them through class trials or to strengthen their bonds. He could waste even more time and bring his friends even more suffering. Kirigiri's rejection won't even matter.

Naegi feels the urge to laugh again. It bubbles in his chest and rises to his throat, leaving burning sensations wherever it went. How could he be so forgetful? There was no consequences for _anything _he did. Any failure, any misstep, he could just undo. The fact that he was getting upset over something like this was _hilarious_.

So Naegi laughs to his heart's content, into the empty dining hall. There was no one around anyway. And even if there was…

He could always just go back, couldn't he?

* * *

"_The beginning of the end of the class trial! Everyone gather once again at you know where! Puhuhuhuhuhu!"_

Monokuma's announcement signals the end of the investigation period. While Asahina, Hagakure, Fukawa, Togami, and Kirigiri were investigating the secrets of the school, Naegi investigated his time loop. With several hours of free time in his hands to look anywhere he wanted, he finds…

One clue.

He had gone back to the gym room and looked around the spot where Junko had stomped on a floorboard. After a few awkward minutes, he finds one that was slightly more loose than the other ones around it. He managed to pry it open with his hands, and had found a button that was connected to some sort of wireless transmitter. The transmitter itself wasn't anything special, so that ended up as a dead end anyway.

Naegi sighs as he enters the elevator room. The only other person there was Kirigiri. As soon as he makes eye contact with her, Kirigiri speaks.

"Most of what you said correlates with my investigation… If you were working for Monokuma, then I can't fathom why you would give me that kind of information, unless the information I found was also planted, which is unlikely." Kirigiri says flatly, brushing away a strand of hair from her face. "So, I suppose that you were being truthful. I apologize for not believing you, but I hope that you can see why I was skeptical."

Naegi smiles weakly. "It's okay. I didn't really find anything in my own investigation, but if I can get you to help next time around… Well, I will definitely be able to find something. Even if I don't then… Well, I have an unlimited amount of time to keep trying, don't I?"

At that moment, Togami enters the elevator room. He trains icy glares at both Kirigiri and Naegi as he moves to the corner farthest away from the pair.

"Everyone's going to act like that. Monokuma gave them photos that made them think we're all traitors or something." Naegi whispers to Kirigiri.

One by one, the other students enter the elevator room. Sure enough, they all acted distant and paranoid, giving each other glares and avoiding any conversation. When Naegi first experienced this, he felt nervous. Well, nervous was an understatement. It felt like his heart was going to burst from his chest from sheer anxiety.

Now… there was nothing. He felt completely empty, save for a slight amount of irritation. Why wouldn't he feel like this? None of this mattered anyway. As soon as it was over, Naegi would have to restart everything.

Then, he would have to see all of his classmates die again.

Then, he would have to go through each and every class trial again.

Then, he would have to try and convince Kirigiri again.

Then, he would have to investigate the school again.

And there wasn't a single guarantee that he would even find anything on his next attempt. All of this was beginning to get more annoying, then despairing.

* * *

…

"You're all the mastermind, aren't you?! You're all out to get me! I'm right, aren't I?! I knew it!" Hagakure points at everyone frantically.

…

* * *

…

"It's the same for everyone else. You don't remember choosing to live here forever. Or even talking to the headmaster about it at all." Kirigiri states in a matter of fact manner.

…

* * *

…

"Despite the time she spent in battles as a member on Fenrir… when she entered this school, she hadn't sustained a single injury!" Naegi says, contradicting Fukawa's statement.

…

* * *

...

"Officially, ten murders have been committed so far. But one of the victims may have been murdered… and then murdered again." Naegi explains to everyone.

…

* * *

…

"So she killed Ikusaba, who had taken her place, making it look like she'd died. And the real Junko… is still alive." Togami surmises.

…

* * *

…

"That's right! You've already spent two full years here at Hope's Peak Academy! And that entire period of time… is precisely what you've forgotten!" Junko laughs maniacally.

…

* * *

…

"Puhuhuhu… It's laughable, really. He was the headmaster, but he had no idea. He had no idea that we, the Ultimate Despair had already made our way into the school. So what was supposed to be a shelter to keep you safe… became a cage that made it impossible for you to escape despair!"

…

* * *

Again, Naegi brings his classmates out of despair. He repeats his heartfelt speech and encourages everyone to not give up. This was a climactic moment, the peak of the trial, and a scene that inspired hope to everyone, including the people watching them.

It inspired hope for everyone except for Junko... and for Naegi himself.

* * *

The conveyor belt halts to a sudden stop.

The incredibly large compactor stalls.

Below said large compactor, Junko Enoshima was hugging an inactive Monokuma robot while waving to the other surviving students. She was the mastermind - the genius model behind the Killing Game at Hope's Peak Academy. The Ultimate Despair, Ultimate Fashionista, and the Ultimate Analyst.

Makoto Naegi, Kyoko Kirigiri, Yasuhiro, Toko FUkawa, Aoi Asahina, Byakuya Togami…

Even Junko Enoshima herself, in her battered state was kept in suspense. This was supposed to be the finale to her execution. After being voted for during the last class trial, she had subjected herself to a gruesome execution that was made up of every other execution that she had used.

_The 1,000 Blows_

_The Cage of Death_

_The Burning of the Versailles Witch_

_Excavator Destroyer_

_After School Lesson_

All of it was combined in order to make the Ultimate Execution. Somehow, Junko had managed to survive the first four executions. Now, she sat beaten and bloody as the compactor in _After School Lesson _stalls above her. This execution was meant for Naegi. However, due to his luck, he had ended up surviving.

Would the execution fail once more? Would Junko live to see another day? It wasn't impossible to think that she would somehow live. She had cheated death once before - by using her sister as a decoy. Mukuro Ikusaba, who was disguised as Junko was dead, impaled by various spears.

_*BANG*_

The resounding smack as Junko Enoshima was reduced to nothing more than a pink splatter answers them.

Nope. Junko is dead. But not for long.

All that remained was a handheld remote with a large red button - presumably the remote to open the front door.

The Killing Game at Hope's Peak Academy was over. Again.

As soon as Junko dies, Naegi quickly walks over to the remote and picks it up, wiping off a few drops of blood with his sleeve. Then, he puts his finger over it.

"Hey Naegi, shouldn't we wait until we're in front of the door to open it?" Asahina stares at Naegi strangely.

"Nope. See you guys later… I hope that I can figure this out soon." Naegi sighs and presses the button.

* * *

**The 56th Killing Game**

Pain.

Naegi wakes up with a headache.

In a familiar classroom.

_Here we go again._

…

"_I have an unlimited amount of time to keep trying, don't I?"_

* * *

As soon as the pile of trash falls down, Naegi runs over to it and starts digging through it. In no time at all, he finds a gloved hand that was moving around. He grabs the hand and pulls it out, greeting its owner as he does so.

"Hey, Kirigiri."

Kirigiri quickly straightens up and brushes off some trash from her body. Then, she looks up and stares at Naegi with a curious expression. "How did you know I was here?"

Naegi takes a deep breath. This was going to take at least another twenty minutes, thirty if Kirigri had any questions. And knowing her, she would have plenty to throw at him.

* * *

"_The beginning of the end of the class trial! Everyone gather once again at you know where! Puhuhuhu!"_

Monokuma's announcement signals the end of the investigation point. While Asahina, Hagakure, Fukawa, and Togami were investigating the secrets of this school, Kirigiri and Naegi investigated the time loop. Naegi had actually managed to convince Kirigiri to help him this time, though she displayed doubt at first. Naegi couldn't blame her either - he had basically admitted to lying to her for the entire game, only to then tell her that he was a time traveller. That would be like someone saying that they were a millionaire, only to then start begging for money - Naegi was practically asking to be called out.

Somehow, Kirigiri was convinced though. Naegi didn't know if it was the environment, or the real desperation in Naegi's voice, or the fact that he could flawlessly answer any question she had, or some other factor. Whatever her reason was for believing him, he was grateful.

They had still split up for the investigation though - like Kirigiri had said, splitting up would be more efficient. But even though was confident that there was nothing in the first three floors, (he had looked through them dozens of times during other time loops) Kirigiri had insisted on looking through them anyway, her reason being that Naegi might have missed something. While Naegi admitted that it was possible he had missed some sort of obscure detail, he very much doubted it.

Naegi had focused his search on the last two floors. Even though he knew where _not _to look, he still managed to find absolutely nothing. That made it two times in a row where he couldn't find anything - he didn't count the floorboard in the gym, as Junko had shown that to him herself. He couldn't even find another trigger for the time machine, if there even was another.

This had dampened his mood somewhat, but… Kirigiri must have found something, right?

"To be honest, I haven't found anything."

"... What?" Naegi blinks.

"I've gathered every single file in this school together and skimmed through all of them. There was not a single mention of a time machine, time loop, or anything of the sort in any of them." The detective sighs and rubs her eyes. "I read so much that I had started to get dizzy."

"Kirigiri… You managed to go through _all _of the files in this school within a few hours?" Naegi gapes at her in surprise. "Even if you didn't find anything… that's still kind of impressive to be honest."

Even though he was surprised, Naegi still couldn't feel but a pit of disappointment form in his stomach. He had gone through quite a bit of trouble getting Kirigiri on her side. She was supposed to be the Ultimate Detective, someone who Naegi could rely on… but she found nothing.

Kirigiri rolls her eyes. "I told you, I only had enough time to skim it. There's a possibility that I missed something in them, though the chance is low. Besides, I couldn't find anything to help you."

Naegi shrugs. He was definitely upset about that, but it wasn't like he could criticize her. He had dozens of loops to investigate, and he hadn't found anything himself. Besides, the fact that Kirigiri had gone through all of those files for him saved a lot of time in the future.

"By the way, Naegi… There is one possible solution."

Instantly, Naegi perks up. He couldn't keep the desperation out of his voice as he starts shouting. "Really?! What is it?! Tell me!"

"It may be risky, but if there's no other choice… Trying to overload the time machine _might _break you out of this time loop."

Naegi blinks. "How would I do something like that though? I mean, we don't even know where the time machine is supposed to be, or if there really is one at all. We haven't found any clues throughout the entire school, so it might just not exist or something."

Kirigiri shakes her head. "You don't need to find it. Naegi, you found one of the triggers for the time machine under the gym floor boards, correct? There was a button connected to a wireless transmitter that may be connected to this time machine. Now, you also mentioned that Junko said there was a large amount of these triggers."

"..."

"Admittedly, I don't know much about electronics or technology, but… It may be possible to sort of 'overload' the time machine with a bunch of signals at the same time. If the machine gets overloaded, a glitch may happen or the whole thing might just completely malfunction altogether."

Realization dawns upon Naegi. He didn't know much about machines either, but that definitely sounded plausible. There was about one or two seconds of delay between a trigger activating and being sent back in time, so pressing a bunch of buttons in succession was definitely something that could be easily done. If he managed to cause a glitch in the time machine, then his time loop might be broken! **(A/N: I don't know anything about technology either, so overloading a machine with signals might not even be possible, idk. But it's a story about a time machine, so suck it up :p)**

"Again, this is only going to be a last resort plan." Kirigiri says quickly. "Neither of us knows what would happen if you were to go through with this. You might escape this time loop. Nothing may happen at all. Maybe the time machine glitches by sending you three hundred years in the past. Anything is possible."

"Right, but-"

Naegi stops talking as Togami suddenly walks into the room. That meant it was nearly time for the last class trial. For everyone here, it was a climactic end to the hellish killing game that had plagued their lives for the past few weeks, the final trial of life and death.

To Naegi, it was just an unskippable cutscene.

As they are joined by the rest, Naegi begins to fidget impatiently.

_Gotta go through this again… Damn._

* * *

Naegi goes through the last class trial once again.

_Blah blah, Junko's the mastermind, Ikusaba was her fake, blah blah inspire hope, blah blah there's an apocalypse happening… _Naegi thinks to himself as he watches his classmates go back and forth.

He felt quite empty inside, but on the outside he gave passionate arguments and inspired hope to the rest of his friends. Faking everything several times had done wonders to his ability to act, refining it to the point where his ability to lie was probably well past Celeste's at this point.

As soon as it's all done and over with, Naegi watches Junko get crushed again. Deep down, he feels the slightest bit of satisfaction.

_Serves her ri-_

Naegi doesn't let himself finish that thought.

He can't advocate for her death. He can't advocate for _any _sort of death. She was still a human being, one with emotions, even if those emotions were mainly despair. Watching her die _can't _bring him any sort of joy. He won't allow it, or else he might really fall to despair.

With this chilling thought, Naegi walks over and presses the button to open the doors.

Again.

...

Naegi didn't know it. While he labored, he thought he was working for Hope. He thought of himself as someone who had the power to save his friends.

Naegi didn't know it. In his mind, he thought that he was surging past despair and into a future filled with hope.

Naegi didn't know it, but while he time traveled again and again, Hope diminished from his heart.

He lied to himself anyway, claiming that he was still filled with hope. He lies to himself, lies about fighting for the side of hope.

And he was really convinced - Naegi had gotten really good at deceit, after all.


	16. Act 2, Chapter 8

**The 59th Killing Game**

Naegi doesn't lift his head from the table. Instead, he just lays there, as the dull pounding pain hammers away at his brain. As the headache slowly fades away, Naegi squeezes his eyes shut and lets out a tired groan. He had thoroughly checked out the entire school dozens of times and found practically _nothing_. For the past three loops, he even had Kirigiri on his side, but still found nothing. At this rate, investigating the school might have just been a fool's errand, a way to waste time.

"_It may be risky, but if there's no other choice… Trying to overload the time machine might break you out of this loop."_

No. Like Kirigiri said, trying that would be risky. So far, he has had an unlimited amount of chances to 'retry' anytime he wanted. If he made any mistakes, he could just go back and fix it. But this was something that he wouldn't get a second chance on. If overloading the time machine did something bad, then he would be stuck.

So what were his options? Well his first option would be to just continue investigating the school. However, Naegi was 99% sure that there wouldn't be any other clues here. The fact that the triggers for the time machine were wireless suggests that the time machine wasn't even in the building. And to be frank, Naegi was sick of spending countless hours upon hours searching everywhere. Not only was it boring, but it was also demoralizing.

As far as Naegi was concerned, that left only one other choice. He could go straight to the source and spend his efforts interrogating the person who put him in this situation to begin with.

_Junko… you WILL get me out of this mess!_

* * *

**The 75th Killing Game**

"We have been waiting! Waiting so very long for peasants like you to appear!" Junko says in an exaggerated snobby voice, a crown resting on her head. "If you swear your fealty to us, we will reward you with half of the entire worl-"

As soon as Junko makes her "grand reveal" as the mastermind, Naegi throws a kitchen knife at the inactive Monokuma that was laying next to her. He aimed specifically for its weak point, so that as soon as the knife makes contact, the Monokuma explodes. However, Junko hadn't been harmed by the explosion - she reacted with lightning quick reflexes, jumping out of the way before she could be caught by the explosion.

At the same time, Makoto Naegi leaps towards her, reading her movements perfectly. Naegi tackles her to the ground and swiftly snatches both hair clips from her hair, purposefully ripping a few strands of hair in the process. This caused Junko to yelp in pain and as soon as she did, Naegi shoves his hand into her mouth and pulls out a false tooth at the back of her mouth. He carefully deposits the tooth in his pocket and replaces it with a coil of rope. Before Junko could say or do anything else, Naegi expertly binds both of her hands together at a break-neck pace. Panting heavily, the luckster takes out a second kitchen knife and holds it up to Junko's throat.

This entire scene played out in twenty seconds.

…

"M-Makoto?!" Asahina shouts, breaking the tense silence that had filled the courtroom. "What are you doing?!"

Hagakure scratches his chin and stares at Naegi strangely. "Uh, I don't really get it but did Naegi just capture the mastermind?

"W-W-What just happened?" Fukawa frantically looks around the classroom as she tried to process what she just saw.

"Time machine. Tell me. Now." Naegi hisses at her, eyes twitching. This was not the first time he had Junko had knifepoint - For over a dozen loops, he had tried to corner Junko. And at each and every turn, she had managed to send him back in time before he could get any info. The false tooth in her mouth was the latest trigger that Naegi had discovered, and he had only found out about it by luck. During the 74th Killing Game, Junko had bit down on her false tooth a bit too hard and had drawn blood. Naegi had barely enough time to notice it before he was sent back.

"Oh!" Junko smiles crookedly as her eyes drift up to meet Naegi's face. The fashionista was pleasantly surprised as she saw that he was… angry. No, perhaps angry wasn't the right word. The luckster's face had gone completely red and his jaw was clenched so tightly that she wouldn't have been surprised if he cracked a few of his teeth. He wasn't angry - he was completely furious. "So… that's what this is about? How many times did you have to do this so far, huh? I mean, if _you _of all people are resorting to measures that are this violent, then you must be super duper desperate!"

"Hold on." Togami raises his voice. His face seemed to be a mixture of both disbelief and irritation. "What's this about a time machine?"

Naegi ignores the affluent prodigy, instead opting to press his knife even harder against Junko's neck. Junko goes completely still and even pauses her breathing. Despite this, a small dribble of blood makes its way down her throat as the knife cuts her skin. If Naegi had pushed even one centimeter closer, she would be dead right now. "Where is it? I won't ask again."

Junko says nothing, instead flicking her eyes down to the knife.

Reluctantly, Naegi moves his arm back slightly. As soon as he did, Junko lightly coughs before taking a few deep breaths. "W-Wow Naegi, you sure are fuckin' crazy, you know that?"

Naegi sharpens his glare. His expression was one of hatred. For the first time in his life, he felt nothing but pure, unadulterated hatred for someone. Each and every time Junko had stopped him from questioning her, he had to stare into her taunting eyes before being sent right back to the start. She always acted to _smug_, knowing that Naegi would have to spend another couple of weeks to get back to that point. If he were to add up the time, Naegi has probably spent over a year on just trying to question Junko. She had not only sent him back in time, but she had also killed him several times. Every time, she used Monokuma to do it. Naegi's martial arts training didn't do much when against a literal robot. She always spent the last few moments of his life teasing him, going on and on about how much of a failure his plan was.

After a few moments of silence, Junko rolls her eyes. "Eh, why not? It's not like it matters anyway. Sure, I'll tell you what I know about the time machine!"

"..."

Junko's grin slowly morphs into a smug smirk. "It's currently located in a town called 'Trancoso'. Heard of it?"

"You're lying." Naegi says uncertainty. These days, he could easily tell when someone is lying. Right now, a big part of his mind was telling him that Junko was lying to him. But another part told him that she wasn't. It seemed… _uncharacteristic _for her to lie right now. Naegi thought that she was lying, but there was something odd about it.

Junko rolls her eyes again. "Do you even know where Trancoso is located? I'm telling the truth - I placed it there. Have you noticed that there's a delay between when I activate a switch to send you back and when you actually get sent back? The lag is insane."

"Where is Trancoso?" Naegi demands. Even if she was lying, the time machine was definitely somewhere far out of his grasp. But still - if he knew the location, then that would at least be _something_. He had never heard of a town called Trancoso, but it definitely didn't sound like the name of a town in Japan.

"Ah, it's somewhere in Brazil." Junko says nonchalantly. "I dunno the exact location of the time machine, but Trancoso is definitely a town in Brazil."

Frowning, Naegi shakes his head. "What do you mean, you don't know the exact location?"

"Did I forget to mention? I actually don't know where it is." Junko sticks out her tongue teasingly. "I pulled that Brazil shit out of my ass. You shoulda seen your face! Ha!"

Naegi inhales deeply and closes his eyes. He could practically feel his hands twitching. Naegi wanted nothing more right now then to relieve some stress by stabbing Junko, but he couldn't do that right now. Not if he wanted answers.

"Uh…" Hagakure clears his throat and raises his hand timidly. He, along with everyone else were only spectating this spectacle with confusion. Even Kirigiri seemed at a complete loss. "So can anyone tell me what's going on he-"

"Shut up." Naegi says flatly. "Junko, explain."

Junko tilts her head slightly. "Welllllll, I kind of erased the memory that held the location of the time machine. So I don't really know where it is, sorry! Oh and before you ask, I really am actually telling the truth here." Junko barks a short laugh. "It could be anywhere!"

"No! That's a lie!" Naegi shakes his head desperately. He wanted desperately to believe that Junko was still lying, but the truth was plainly written on her face at this point. "Come on! TELL ME!"

"Ask me as many times as you want. The truth will stay the same, no matter when or how you ask me. I don't know! Puhuhuhuhuhuhuhu!" Junko laughs mockingly. "All of that effort trying to restrain me, all for nothing! Isn't that great?"

Naegi's breathing starts to get ragged as panic fills his brain. Somewhere, in the distance, he could hear the murmurs of his classmates and the sick cackling of Junko. Everything was just so horrible. A waste. That was what this was - all of this was a waste of time.

_But hey, I have unlimited time! That means it doesn't matter! IT DOESN'T MATTER! _Naegi screams at a deafening volume inside of his own head. The worst part was that he knew that she was telling the truth. Even if he went for another loop and asked Junko the question in a different way, or at a different place, she would say the same thing. She didn't know where it was. _I can do this as many times as I want, so it doesn't matter, does it?!_

But he could no longer focus on that. In his mind, something just… snapped. It was as if the last few strings that was connecting his mind to the plane of rationality broke. The edges of Naegi's vision seems to start blur at a deep, dark red as he stares into Junko's eyes. She didn't even look human to her - she looked like a demon.

Everything blacks out.

…

Naegi blinks. He could hear someone screaming. No, two someones, two voices, that sounded far away, almost non-existent. Even so, he could hear the distinct tone of terror in their voices. He could feel something hot and warm drenching his hands and clothes. The unwelcoming stench of copper filled his nostrils, causing him to recoil slightly in shock. His eyes drift downwards… downwards to Junko.

Her neck was cut wide open and there was a torrent of blood spilling out. Blood, blood, blood, blood. Blood everywhere. On his hands, on his clothes, on his shoes, on the floor. Red almost completely filled his vision. Junko's usually animated face was completely still. Her eyes were greyed out and had as much life in them as rocks. In complete contrast to her eyes, an ear splitting grin was plastered onto Junko's face. The grin sent a clear message to Naegi.

"_I won."_

Junko had won. For the first time in seventy five killing games, Naegi had killed.

He had killed. Naegi had took someone's life. Not only that, but he had mutilated his victim with a knife, slitting her throat open wide. And the worst part was that beneath the crawling sense of nausea and disbelief, there was one undeniable emotion.

It was satisfaction.

It was satisfaction, and it was the last straw.

"N-No." Naegi croaks in a hoarse voice, dropping his knife to the ground. It clatters to the widening pool of blood at his knees and splashes more warm liquid onto his clothes. It felt like liquid fire.

Naegi was done.

Done.

* * *

**The 76th Killing Game.**

Naegi wakes up.

Pain.

More pain.

…

Images flash through his mind.

…

Junko.

He killed.

He killed her.

She's dead.

No, that wasn't right. She's alive. She _was _dead.

It was undone. No one was dead.

He was back.

…

Naegi screams, as loud as he could. He slams both of his hands to the sides of his head, as if his brain was about to explode. He lets it all out. The pent up frustration from being back at the start for what seemed like the millionth time. The lingering anger from Junko's taunts, and how he had fallen for her bait. The unbelievable shock from having killed for the first time.

Was this despair?

Whatever it was, Naegi manifests it into one singular throat shredding scream. It was the loudest sound he had ever heard in his life. Hot tears pour down his eyes as his own screams tear into his ears.

_Why? Why? No, not fair. Why?_

And to think, he once thought that he couldn't advocate for her death. That he would never sink so low as to commit murder.

Someone runs into the classroom. Naegi snaps his head to look at them. Vaguely, he realizes that he was still screaming. It felt like his throat was burning, but that didn't matter to him. That didn't matter at all.

"H-Hey!" _Junko _walks up to Naegi and shakes his shoulder. He was still sitting at his desk. "What the hell's wrong with you?!"

Like a trapdoor, Naegi's mouth instantly snaps shut. He stares at Junko_, _the person he had killed. He had took this person's life with his own hands. Just like he expected, none of it mattered anyway. Nothing mattered. No one died, no one was ever going to die. Junko herself doesn't even know where the time machine was.

He lost.

…

"Um… you okay there?" Junko asks tentatively. She looked as if she were almost afraid to approach him, like Naegi would start screaming his head off again. But something else about her seemed… off.

"Ah." Naegi croaks. _Not Junko. Not JUNKO. That's not Junko. Right, right right._ _Don't forget, don't forget._

_Don't forget… _Naegi's eyes widen. _Don't forget. Backup. Second. Yes, no. I did not lose. Option two, what's behind the second door? I chose option two. Risky, who cares? I need this._

_One… One more. One more way. Option two._

* * *

**The 80th Killing Game**

Naegi contacts Kirigiri - again. He tells her about everything, except for the time he killed Junko. He couldn't find it in himself to bring it up. The memory was too painful to remember. Every time he even thought about it, new waves of nausea and anger washed through him. Of course, she was skeptical so like usual, Naegi gives her a few predictions in order to gain her trust. Then, he did everything over again. He knew that this may be the last time he would do this - and yet, he felt bored. But who could blame him? He had done this too many times.

He does it again.

He talks Maizono and Celeste out of their murders.

He pushes Ikusaba out of the way.

He prevents Owada from flying off the handle.

He acts grateful to his friends when they stick by him as Monokuma lies about him being the traitor. Though maybe act wasn't the right word? Despite everything, he still felt some amount of appreciation. It was just hard to feel grateful as he had seen this over and over and over and over and over again already.

And now, once again, they find that in the morning, Junko is tied up. All of their friends were there too. She was lying on the floor and for the time being, unconscious. That wouldn't last very long though. Naegi needed to act fast.

"Kirigiri, are you ready?"

Kirigiri and Naegi had come up with this plan a while ago. They both agreed that this might be his only chance at freeing himself from the time loop. As the location for the time machine was completely unknown, it wasn't as if they could even interact with it. Naegi had spent the last couple of loops finding as many different triggers as he could. He would try to overload the time machine by spamming a bunch of triggers as many times as possible. He had no idea what would happen, or if anything would happen at all, but he had to try. It was his last chance.

Kirigiri nods and brings out a small bag. In it, there were thirty different wireless transmitters that they had gathered the night before. Naegi had asked all of the students to help with this - while they were certainly confused, when he told them that doing this would help them escape, everyone agreed - even Togami and Ikusaba.

Kirigiri leans in to Naegi and starts to whisper in a hushed voice. "I think that you should rethink things, Naegi. Doing something like this is incredibly risky. It should only be a last resort." Kirigiri reluctantly went along with his plan - protesting that this was needlessly dangerous. Who knew what this action could accomplish? It may even do something crazy, like somehow cause a time paradox.

"Kirigiri, I'm really beginning to lose my mind." Naegi mutters. "If I keep meeting failures, then…"

Naegi shivers as he flashes back to killing Junko.

_Her neck was cut wide open and there was a torrent of blood spilling out. Blood, blood, blood, blood. Blood everywhere. On his hands, on his clothes, on his shoes, on the floor. Red almost completely filled his vision. Junko's usually animated face was completely still. Her eyes were greyed out and had as much life in them as rocks._

"But still-"

"Besides, the time machine could be literally anywhere." Naegi glances at her, a brow raised. "You don't happen to know a way to explore the entire world in my situation, do you?"

"No." Kirigiri hesitantly drops the subject.

Naegi takes the bag from her hands and gives two transmitters to each student. Each one stayed silent, only staring at the devices strangely.

"Uh, how exactly will this help us get out of here?" Kuwata asks, turning and examining his transmitter. "I don't even know what this is."

"Just trust me." Naegi says firmly. He gathers the last four transmitters in the bag and hands two of them to Kirigiri and keeps the other two to himself. Looking around at his classmates, he nervously nods. "On three, okay? Just press it as fast and as much as you can."

Murmurs of agreement sound through the gym.

"One, two…" Naegi closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Three!"

* * *

***A/N* Well, this chapter was pretty edgy lol.**


	17. Act 3, Chapter 1

_"__Despair wins in the end? Puhuhuhu… So that's your decision?"_

_"__..."_

_"__What will you do now that you have an answer?"_

_"__..."_

_"__Oh, the silent treatment? That's not nice, you know."_

_"__Despair is stronger than hope. Hope is weaker than despair. But it does not matter._

_"__What?"_

_"__They are both boring. Both are too predictable. I do not wish to involve myself in such pointless matters."_

_"__But you said -"_

_"__You have tried to show me what an unpredictable future looks like. You have tried to show me the appeal of despair. But I do not see it. There is nothing for me here. Farewell, Junko."_

* * *

_Act Three_

_The Curse of Immortality_

_"__Time passes the same, regardless of what I am doing."_

_-Izuru Kamukura_

* * *

_Cold._

_So cold._

A few seconds after he finishes the countdown, darkness completely overtakes his vision as a disturbing feeling fills his body. Freezing liquid seems to replace the blood in his body as a biting chill covers him, like a blanket of snow. The pitch black darkness filling his vision seemed suffocating - he couldn't even tell if he was closing his eyes or not.

_Where am I?_

Naegi couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. All he could do was stay still as the cold completely fills him from head to toe.

_Dark._

_It feels so bad._

_…_

_I want to die._

* * *

**The 81st Killing Game**

Pain.

This is what Makoto Naegi is currently feeling. He was suffering from a headache that was so bad that Naegi thought his head was surely being split into two. It was as if an iron pike was being stabbed into his brain.

But the pain was a welcome surprise. He _needed _it. The pain had replaced the numbing cold of the void, and so it was welcome. He savored his headache and the sudden rush of warmth into his bones. How long had he been trapped in that freezing abyss? To Naegi, it felt like he was in there for years.

Naegi shivers violently and turns his head to try and vomit onto the floor. But he didn't even have the strength to do that, and just ended up dry heaving. It seemed as if every spot on his body was prickling. His mouth was completely numb - it reminded him of the time he had to had a tooth filled, and the dentist injected his gums with a drug in order to numb the pain.

Blinking rapidly, Naegi shakily stands up from the desk. As soon as he does, his legs fail him and Naegi collapses onto the floor. This caused his headache to flare up once again. Naegi lets out an agonized groan as his vision seems to flicker. As another bout of shivers wracks his body, Naegi tries to prop himself up on his elbows and knees, but even that proved to be too much effort. Panting, the luckster gives up and instead rolls on the floor so that he was facing the ceiling.

"F-Fuck." Naegi groans and puts a hand on his forehead. Along with a thin sheen of sweat, Naegi realized that he was burning up. His forehead felt hot enough to fry an egg on.

_Good. Anything is better than the cold._

Naegi darts his eyes around. He was in the classroom. The same classroom he had woken up in eighty times before. All of the windows were bolted shut with giant iron plates, and there was a security camera staring at him from a corner. Panic starts to replace the confusion and relief in Naegi's heart.

_Did the time machine malfunction? Am I stuck here forever?_

"N-No." Naegi mutters out loud. "Too early to assume. Calm down, Naegi."

Gritting his teeth, Naegi forces himself to sit up from the floor. Ignoring the amplified wave of nausea, he slowly gets up on his feet. Looking down. Naegi sees that his hands were trembling. He felt like he could collapse at any moment. It was taking all of his strength to even stand up right now. He couldn't even imagine trying to walk in this condition.

_It had to work. It had to work. I will NOT time travel again. _

Naegi somehow walks anyway, walks to the main hall. Moving forwards, Naegi prepares to meet his classmates for the last time.

* * *

Once again, Naegi stands in front of the giant locked door. Once again, he is surrounded by his friends. They all face the door, breaths caught in their throats. The tension in the air was noticeably thick, but also light at the same time, somehow.

The only difference now is that more of his friends were standing by him this time.

No one had died.

He saved everyone, for what seemed like the millionth time.

Leon Kuwata, Mukuro Ikusaba, Sayaka Maizono, Chihiro Fujisaki, Mondo Owada, Ishimaru Kiyotaka, Hifumi Yamada, Celestia Ludenberg, Sakura Ogami… Naegi had even saved Junko Enoshima, the mastermind of the killing game.

Naegi grips the remote to the outside world in his hands tightly. Like everyone else here, he was nervous, but for an entirely different reason. This was the moment of truth - did overloading the time machine work? Would he be free?

Suddenly, someone steps up next to Naegi. It was Ikusaba - somehow, even in the quiet empty hall, no one had heard her walk up to them.

"Oh, Ikusaba! You're here!" Naegi smiles brightly as the Ultimate Soldier joins the 78th class.

Blushing slightly, Ikusaba nods. "I'm ready. Let's go."

"Oh my FUCKING god, sis. Will you just ask him out already? Aren't soldiers supposed to be _brave_?" Junko snickers, still tied up and being carried around by Ogami. "Claim him before someone else does!"

"J-Junko!"

Naegi sighs and pats Ikusaba on the shoulder. "Just ignore her."

"Right…"

"Well…" Kirigiri clears her throat as she scans the small crowd. "Does anyone have objections? This is your last chance, really."

"Kill me."

Other then Junko's blunt comment, no one raises any objections.

"Very well." Kirigiri glances at Naegi. "Let's go."

With trembling arms, Naegi brings up the remote and holds a finger over it. His heart was beating so loudly that he was sure that everyone around him could hear it. He had saved each and every one of his classmates again, and hopefully, for the last time.

Naegi shifts his eyes to Junko. She was grinning sadistically at him, with an expression of triumph. Her grin only widened when she sees that Naegi was looking at her.

…

Naegi presses the button.

The door opens.

A piercing bright light fills the room.

"O-Oh. Oh." Naegi shivers violently, accidently dropping the remote in the process. It clatters at his feet. He wasn't sent back in time. He could actually _see _the outside world. For the first time in a long time, true hope begins to blossom in Naegi's chest. "I… I'm free? I didn't go back in time?"

"Go back in time?" Kirigiri asks. She was standing right next to him and was giving him a worried stare. "Naegi, are you okay? What do you mean by that?"

Naegi looks at her with a gaping mouth. An indescribable amount of gratitude suddenly fills him so fast that the world seemed to flip upside down. She was the one who gave him this plan. If it weren't for her, he would still be trapped in the time loop. But her plan worked. She saved him.

Tears pricking the edges of his eyes, Naegi surges forward and hugs Kirigiri. She gasped once in response, but doesn't try to move away.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Naegi mutters under his breath.

"..." Kirigiri awkwardly pats him on the back, obviously unsure of how to respond. After a few seconds, Naegi pulls away from the hug and gives her a grateful smile. He couldn't even express in words how lucky he felt right now.

Meanwhile, the other students are gaping at the scene in front of them - sure enough, the world was in an apocalyptic state. Everywhere you looked, you could see destroyed buildings. Street fights were raging on, helicopters were in the air, and dancing fires decorated the landscape, producing thick pillars of smoke.

The world was terrible.

But Naegi didn't care. He was free. Free from the time loop, free from Junko's 'punishment'. It was the best future that he could have ever hoped for. As long as he was really free… well, that was heaven for him.

Four of the helicopters that were littering the sky suddenly lands in front of them. Several soldiers came rushing out of them, armed with rifles and bulletproof vests. "Students of Hope's Peak Academy!" One of them shouts.

"We are the Future Foundation, an organization focused on rebuilding this world. Please, come with us! We shall offer you food, shelter, and protection."

No one responds. They were still too busy taking in the apparent apocalypse.

Naegi clumsily takes a step forwards. Nothing could describe the extreme sense of bliss and hope that had blossomed inside of him. All of his hard work was finally paying off. He was free from the shackles of time - Naegi could barely believe it.

"It's 8:59 in the morning, yet the sky is so dark!" Ishimaru suddenly reports, staring down at his watch. Sweat was pouring down his forehead like a waterfall. "Why is it also red?!"

"The sky turned like that when the Tragedy happened." Owada says, putting a hand on Ishimaru's shoulder. During this time loop, Ikusaba had given them their memories back via use of the flashback lights. "Remember, bro?"

"Oh, I suppose you're right! I apologize, I am still rather confused from what's been happe-"

* * *

**The 82nd Killing Game.**

Pain.

This is what Makoto Naegi is currently feeling. He was suffering from a headache that was so bad that Naegi thought his head was surely being split into two. It was as if an iron pike was being stabbed into his brain.

_What… What's happening to me?_

The last thing he remembered was standing in the outside world with his friends. Some people who called themselves the Future Foundation had come to rescue them. They were going to rebuild the despair filled world together.

Then, as suddenly as it came, the headache stops. All that remained was a subtle feeling of drowsiness. As the pain recedes, Naegi slowly and deliberately raises his head from his arms. For some reason, he was burrowing his head into them.

He was in a familiar room with bolted windows. In this room, there were several desks and a security camera. A small string of drool had been going down the side of his mouth.

…

As he looks around in horror, Naegi could feel his spirit deflating, like a leaking balloon. Hope fleets away from his soul, leaving nothing but a shadow. Naegi didn't know whether to scream, cry or do both. So he just sat there silently, mouth opening and closing in disbelief.

He was back.

* * *

Naegi presses the button.

...

The door opens. A piercing bright light enters from the outside world. With it, scenes of unimagine horror came - the world was in an apocalyptic state. Everywhere you looked, you could see destroyed buildings. Street fights were raging on, helicopters were in the air, and dancing fires decorated the landscape, producing thick pillars of smoke.

The world was terrible, but Naegi had seen it before. He had done this before. Nothing was new.

"Please, let me stay here…" Naegi clenches his fists and squeezes his eyes shut. His body trembled slightly as the unpleasant warmth from the outside world sweeps over him.

Several soldiers came rushing out of them, armed with rifles and bulletproof vests. "Students of Hope's Peak Academy!" One of them shouts.

"We are the Future Foundation, an organization focused on rebuilding this world. Please, come with us! We shall offer you food, shelter, and protection."

"O-Okay, I'll go!" Naegi says quickly, panic and desperation quickly filling his mind. He swiftly walks over to one of the soldiers and grabs their arm. It felt like that at any moment, all of this could be ripped away from him once again. "Come on, just free me from this! I don't want to keep doing this over and over! I-It was supposed to work!"

"K-Kid, calm down." The soldier brushes his hand away, a tinge of confusion touching his voice. And who could blame him for being confused? The Naegi that they were looking at seemed much more different than the one that they were watching in the broadcasts. They watched him reassure his friends and even stopped a few murders from happening - always with an air of confidence and hope around him. But now that Naegi was right in front of them, he seemed… odd.

"It's 8:59 in the morning, yet the sky is so dark!" Naegi hears Ishimaru talking in the background. His voice seemed so far away, even though they were practically right next to each other. "Why is it also red?!"

Something in Naegi's brain suddenly clicks. _8:59 in the morning?_

"The sky turned like that when the Tragedy happened." Owada says, putting a hand on Ishimaru's shoulder. During this time loop, Ikusaba had given them their memories back via use of the flashback lights. "Remember, bro?"

"Oh, I suppose you're right! I apologize, I am still rather confused from what's been happe-"

Before Ishimaru could finish his sentence, Naegi is sent back in time… again.

* * *

With each and every subsequent time loop, more and more panic begins to enfold Naegi. He was so close to freedom that he could practically taste it. It was _right there_, in front of him. Like a broken record, Naegi does everything in the exact same manner so that he could get up to the point where he and his friends left the school. He did it over and over again, hoping desperately that at some point, he wouldn't just be sent back in time again. And yet, no matter how many times he repeated the same route, the ending was always the same. Right as it turned to 9:00 AM, he was sent back to the past.

He didn't know _why _it was 9:00 AM. Perhaps it was just a randomly selected time by a malfunctioning time machine. Maybe 9:00 AM was the exact time that Naegi had decided to try and overload the time machine, and it got stuck there. He didn't know, and he didn't care.

All he cared about was the dawning realization that Kirigiri's backup plan had failed.

And now, he was trapped. Forever.

* * *

**The 144th Killing Game**

Naegi presses the button.

...

The door opens. A piercing bright light enters from the outside world. With it, scenes of unimagine horror came - the world was in an apocalyptic state. Everywhere you looked, you could see destroyed buildings. Street fights were raging on, helicopters were in the air, and dancing fires decorated the landscape, producing thick pillars of smoke.

The world was terrible, but Naegi had seen it before. He had done this before. In fact, he had gone through the same song and dance over twenty times over. Each and every time, Naegi gets the smallest taste of freedom. And each and every time, Naegi was yanked away from that freedom, like a dog on a leash.

Silently, Naegi steps forward. At the same time, a couple of helicopters that were hovering in the air lands in front of them. As soon as this happened, something inside of Naegi cracked. He realised how pointless all of this was. He was chasing a vivid dream, one that he could never reach. Trying to repeat this endless loop was useless.

"Give up. I give up. No point, I lost. Fuck you, Junko." Naegi grasps his head in between his hands and starts pulling at his hair, babbling under his breath as he does so. "So close. So close. Why why? Why me?"

Several soldiers came rushing out of them, armed with rifles and bulletproof vests. "Students of Hope's Peak Academy!" One of them shouts.

"Get away from me, Future Foundation!" Naegi's voice exponentially grows as he backs away from the soldiers. "You can't save me. No one can. I'm done. I lost. Stop giving me hope. Stop giving me hope. You can't save anyone, you can't save me."

"Uh, Naegs? You okay dude?" Hagakure puts a hand on Naegi's shoulder with an anxious look in his eyes. "Don't go nuts on us."

"Stop it!" Naegi was practically shouting now. He roughly shoves away the clairvoyant's arm and collapses to his knees onto the cold cement. "I give up, okay?! Junko, you win! Just stop doing this to me! I'll do anything, just let me go! I LOST!"

"Puhuhuhuhu…" Junko chuckles quietly.

"Naegi! Get ahold of yourself!" Kirigiri forcefully grabs onto one of Naegi's hand and tries to pull him up. "What did Junko do to you?"

Naegi only groans in response, pulling away from Kirigiri.

Ogami roughly grabs Junko from her shoulder and looks into her eyes with an evil glare. "What did you do to him? Tell us, or suffer the consequences."

"This is hilarious!" Junko laughs hautighly. "I wonder how many takes it took for our little hope boy to crack? Five hundred? A thousand? Well, I guess it doesn't matter now."

Ikusaba stares down at the trembling form of Naegi, her face completely pale. "Is this… Is Naegi in… Despair? No, that can't be true. He was normal. Just a few minutes ago, he was normal."

Maizono quickly runs up to Naegi and shakes his shoulders. "Naegi! What's wrong?!" Maizono cries, alarm clearly present in her voice. "Look, whatever Junko did to you, we can help! Just tell us what she did to you!"

"No!" Naegi starts thrashing around on the floor as he begins to hyperventillate. "Don't do that! Don't give me hope! There's no hope! I can't escape from the loop, I'm trapped forever!"

"N-Naegi, please." Maizono begs. "We can help you. We're your friends."

"I said, don't give me hope! DON'T GIVE ME-"

* * *

**The 145th Killing Game**

"HOPE!"

…

Naegi slowly brings his head up from the desk, absentmindedly wiping the string of drool on the side of his mouth away with his sleeve. As he looks around to confirm that he was back in the classroom, an involuntary tremor courses through his body.

"Hope." Naegi repeats to the empty room.

"Hope."

…

Naegi chuckles.

Naegi laughs.

He laughs until his gut, throat, and limbs ached. After a minute, the laughter smoothly transitioned into pitiful dry sobs that went to the pattern of his thumping headache. When he finally stopped, Naegi took a deep breath, looked up to the ceiling, and wondered if he was in despair. If he had lost all hope. If he had lost his mind.

_Well, it doesn't matter now, does it?_

* * *

***A/N* Just like in the original Eternal Despair fic, the bad ending comes first. Will be a lot longer than the good end, which will come last.**


	18. Act 3, Chapter 2

Seemingly in a trance, Naegi blankly stumbles to the main hall for the 145th time in his life. His mind was a dizzying mixture of confusion and depression. He was barely aware of the fact that he was moving - the whole routine was practically muscle memory at this point. He was watching himself move and talk, as if he was looking at a video. He watched all of his friends introduce themselves to him, and vice versa again.

He wondered if he truly was going crazy, if this was what it felt like. He thought that he was pretty close to it, but not yet. But did crazy people know they were crazy? For all he knew, his mind was already broken and these thoughts were just the inner ramblings of a psycho.

One thing was for sure - Naegi was slowly cracking. Who could blame him? For most of the killing games where Naegi tried to save his friends, he had to wait for thirty-one days. When Naegi let his friends die, the killing game generally lasted seventeen days.

Makoto Naegi has been in this time loop for over ten years.

He watched his friends die many, many times over. He watched _himself _die an excessive amount of times as well.

And it was all for nothing.

_Maybe it's time to stop trying._

A long time ago, this thought would have never crossed his mind. Even if it did, he would have instantly rejected that thought and berated himself for even considering it. A long time ago, he had hope. He thought that _for sure_, escaping this time loop was possible. In fact, he initially thought that being sent back in time like this was a blessing. But it was a curse. An annoying, boring, and painfully slow curse.

_I would rather cut off my arms then go through these motions again. _Naegi thinks to himself morosely as he pretends to listen to Hagakure's self-introduction. _I would rather gouge my eyes out then keep this mask on any longer._

…

_So what if I really do stop trying? What if I just let loose, and spend the last of my sanity fucking around in this school? What if I just do whatever I want? It's not like there would be any lasting consequences anyway. The backup plan failed. I'm trapped forever._

Naegi nods to himself. Right now, there was a hundred different things that he would prefer to do then introduce himself to everyone again. So right in the middle of Hagakure's spiel about Bigfoot, Naegi swiftly turns around and walks away from the clairvoyant.

"Sheesh, you're a rude guy." Hagakure mutters, looking dejected from being ignored.

_Maybe I'll go back to that classroom and take a nap. It's practically my second bed anyway, and our dorms aren't unlocked yet._

Yes, that sounded fine. That sounded like a fine idea.

* * *

Twenty minutes into Naegi's nap, a familiar face pops into the classroom. It was Mukuro Ikusaba - still posing as the fake Junko. She walks over to the desk Naegi was sleeping in and sharply taps him on the shoulder with her nails.

Naegi peeks out from under his arms. "What do you want?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Ikusaba asks irritatingly. She crosses her arms and scowls down at him in contempt. "Why are you sleeping here?"

"... Does it matter?" Naegi asks.

"Duh, it matters!" Ikusaba says, tapping her foot impatiently. "Didn't you hear that weird announcement? Get your ass over to the gym, ahoge boy! You're keeping all of us waiting here."

"Fine." Naegi rolls his eyes as he stands up and stretches, inciting a few pops from his joints. There wasn't anything else he could do anyway. If he just stayed here, Monokuma would just force him to come to the gym. "Lead the way."

A tinge of worry touches Ikusaba's face. _Why is Naegi acting like this? Did the memory erasure mess with his mind or something? He's usually so positive and energetic… _During the school years, his undying positivity and bright smile was what attracted everyone to him. In fact, he had actually been acting like the same old Naegi when he first went to introduce himself. She noticed that he left midway through talking to Hagakure though - was that when he changed? What happened to him?

Peering into his eyes, Ikusaba's worry is quickly replaced by alarm.

His eyes were almost completely devoid of emotion.

Ikusaba had seen this look before. She had spectated several extreme interrogation sessions, and had even headed some of them herself. She knew first-hand that if you put too much pain and pressure on a person for too long, then their mind would just break. They got used to the pain. It's not like they wouldn't feel it anymore - it was just that it doesn't actually bother them.

Naegi looked almost exactly the same as those tortured soldiers - completely indifferent to everything around him. She had a feeling that he wouldn't even care about the Killing Game. But beneath the neutral expression Ikusaba could see a small hint of something terrible.

She could sense a raging ocean of anger, frustration, sorrow and _despair_, all being barely held back by a crumbling dam.

"Alright then… follow me." Ikusaba says softly.

There's no response, but she hears the light footsteps of Naegi trail behind her as she walks to the gymnasium.

_What happened to you, Naegi?_

* * *

"Oh my god! Finally! What the hell took you so long?" The high pitched voice of Monokuma fills the gym as soon as Naegi enters. The bear was sitting on top of a podium, and his face was completely red. There was even steam shooting out from his ears.

"Unacceptable!" Ishimaru roars, pointing at Naegi rudely. "To show such extensive tardiness in a school setting is unacceptable!"

"Sorry." Naegi says flatly.

"Ah, what a delinquent!" Monokuma hops up and presses both of his paws together. "Well, now that he has finally arrived, I can get to why you're all here! First, let's talk a bit about what your school life here at Hope's Peak Academy will be like. Now, ah, make no mistake - you few students, so full of potential, represent the hope of the world. And to protect such splendid hope…"

Naegi's mouth turns down in a grimace as he hears the word 'hope'. He couldn't believe that he used to be so obsessed about such a thing. He used to think that something that means as little as hope could solve anything, that as long as he held hope, he could save himself and his friends. That wasn't true - all hope did for him was make him waste time. All hope did was crush his spirits.

"... You will all live a communal life together solely within the confines of this school. Everyone will live in harmony together, and adhere to the rules and regulations of the school. Oh yeah, regarding the end date for this communal life - There isn't one! In other words, you'll all live here until the day you die!" Monokuma finishes delightfully.

"U-Until the day we die?" Fukawa stammers.

"Oh, but fear not! We have quite an abundant budget, so you won't lack for all the common conveniences." Monokuma says reassuringly, as if this was the problem with what he was suggesting.

"Let me guess, if we want to leave, one of us will have to commit murder and get away with it, right?" Naegi says abruptly, raising his hand up in the air.

"What the?! Kill each other?! The fuck are you on about?" Owada asks furiously.

"Ooh! The delinquent here caught on quick! Though I must say - I don't appreciate you stealing the grand reveal from me." Monokuma snickers.

Naegi shoots the bear a cool glare. "And I don't appreciate some despair obsessed fashionista locking me up in here. Tough luck."

"Wha - huh?" Ikusaba points to herself questioningly. "Fashionista? Are you saying that I'm controlling that thing?"

"I'm saying that the fashionista is controlling Monokuma, not you. You're not a fashionista." Naegi says bluntly. He didn't know why he was saying all of these things - was it because he was bored? Was it because he wanted to lure Junko out? Whatever the reason was, he continued to say whatever came to mind. "Soldiers aren't usually the mastermind in these type of things."

"Are you feeling okay?" Yamada asks nervously. "Do you have a fever or something?"

"..." Ikusaba's confused look slowly turns into a cold glare. Not only did Naegi see through her disguise, but he also remembered the fact that she existed? Something fishy was going on here - Naegi knew too much. This would complicate Junko's plan for the killing game. Should she do something about it?

"Puhuhuhuhu…" Monokuma giggles, raising both paws to his mouth. "This is getting interesting, but unfortunately, I think we're gonna have to put a pin on this discussion. Oh, Muku? We need a reset here. Why don't you go and capture lil old Nae-"

Before Monokuma could finish his sentence, Naegi moves forward at a surprisingly high speed. He sweeps his legs at Ikusaba's feet, but she immediately jumps up to dodge it and pulls out her combat knife. All of the other students back away from the two, spectating the fight with a confused sort of awe.

Using the techniques that he had learned from Ogami, Naegi attempts to disarm Ikusaba. He grabs her arm and twists it at a specific angle where it would cause an incredible amount of pain, as well as temporary paralysis. But Ikusaba simply grits her teeth and tosses the knife to her other hand before slashing at Naegi's chest, drawing forward a large spray of blood through his uniform.

The pain was euphoric.

"Ah! What the hell?!" Kuwata shouts. "What kind of fucked up school is this?!"

"B-Blood…" Fukawa's eyes roll up to the back of her head as she promptly passes out.

Grinning, Naegi feigns a punch before jumping backwards slightly. Ikusaba took the bait and attempted to block the punch with her knife before pushing forwards, like Naegi knew she would - while he hadn't seen her fight much in the killing game, Naegi had watched her practice against Ogami several times during the school years. Those memories happened over a decade ago, yet Naegi could still recall them clearly.

Ikusaba whiffs and Naegi takes advantage. He grabs her knife - by the blade, and forcefully pulls back. More blood sprays out and covers the both of them. Ikusaba turns the momentum of Naegi's pull into a tackle and collides into the luckster, earning a grunt of surprise.

"Ah jeez, look at this mess!" Monokuma complains in the background. "Not only am I gonna have to clean all of this up, but I'm gonna have to erase their memories and restart the game again! This sucks."

Naegi's eyes widen. _Memory erasure?!_

No.

Nononononononono.

He couldn't let that happen. He _wouldn_'t let that happen. If he lost his memories, then he would have to do _everything _all over again. Even if he wouldn't remember it, that would still be a horrible outcome.

Ikusaba pins both of Naegi's arm down to the floor, panting slightly.

Shouting in frustration, Naegi tucks his legs in and pistons them right at Ikusaba's gut, launching her backwards. Quickly standing up, Naegi backs up from Ikusaba and holds the knife out menacingly.

Ikusaba gets up as well and narrows her eyes at Naegi. This doesn't make any sense at all. This person wasn't Naegi - there was no way. For the two years she had known the luckster, he had never shown any aptitude for violence. He was like a defenseless puppy. Was all of that a facade? Maybe he wasn't even the Ultimate Lucky Student. From the way Naegi was fighting, it wasn't unthinkable that he could have been hiding some sort of combat based talent.

Ikusaba slowly brings her hand up to her wig. Large blots of pink stained it - Naegi's blood. She shoves her hand in and digs around a bit. No more than a few seconds later, she pulls her hand back out - she was holding a sleek pistol.

Everything seemed to slow down for Naegi.

_A gun. And all I have is a knife, plus some secondhand martial art skills. I can't win this, can I? I can't defeat Ikusaba right now. If she shoots me in the leg or something, she'll capture me, then my memory will be erased. No. That can't happen. It won't happen. I will escape._

He knew what he had to do.

With zero hesitation, Naegi brings up his knife and holds the point up against his adams apple. Ikusaba's eyes widen and her face contorts into an expression of almost comedic shock. "STOP!"

Naegi wished he could. But there was no choice.

He pushes the knife in as hard as he could. Hot searing pain fills his throat as his legs suddenly fail him. Reflexively, he pulls the knife out and Naegi collapses onto the floor as fountains of blood spray out, adding to the growing puddle on the gym floor. This pain didn't feel good, like the pain he felt while fighting Ikusaba. It was all-encompassing and horrible. It reminded him of the time Junko had choked him to death in front of Ikusaba, using her nails to stab into his throat like a maniac.

_Die faster die faster die faster_

Through blurred vision, Naegi sees Ikusaba rush up to him and tear out a portion of her shirt. She was going to patch him up. She was going to save him. And then she was going to damn him to another decade of time loops.

Not if he could help it.

With the last of his strength, Naegi tightens his grip around the blood-soaked knife and swings it at his own head. He didn't even care where it hit, as long as it was fatal. More pain joined the fray, and seemed to absorb the color in Naegi's vision. For some reason, everything had gone gray. He feels even more blood leak down the side of his head as Ikusaba shouts in frustration and grabs the knife from Naegi. It was too late - the damage was done.

Naegi closes his eyes and wills himself to die. Somewhere in the background, he hears the faint shouts of his classmates and Monokuma.

He wills himself to escape.

_Escape_.

* * *

**The 146th Killing Game**

Naegi groans and pushes himself up from the desk. The pain was gone, but he still remembered it clearly. The area around his throat felt like it was burning up. He automatically begins to make his way to the main hall. He had no idea what he was going to do now. There was only so many things he _could _do in such a confined space. As he slowly walks down the long hallway, an idea comes to mind.

_Ikusaba rouged me up during the last loop… Maybe I should ask her to train me. _

If he were to receive training from Ikusaba and stack it on top of Ogami's training, then he could probably become one of the best fighters in Hope's Peak. He would still have an average build with no extraordinary strength, but knowing how to use weapons efficiently would come in handy.

A small problem was that Ikusaba was more of a lone wolf type of person. Even in the Killing Games where Naegi had saved her from Junko, she had stayed away from the rest of the class. Naegi knew that she _did _have a crush on him, but that didn't stop her from trying to kill him on multiple occasions. She might refuse to help him based on the simple fact that it would be dangerous to her.

Naegi stops just as he reaches the main hallway. Sure enough, everyone else was there… including Ikusaba, still disguised as Junko.

"Well, might as well try." Naegi mutters to himself "I've got nothing to lose."

* * *

"I never took you for the fighting type, Naegi." Ikusaba comments as she leads Naegi to the gymnasium. It was a wide open space with no one around, so it was a perfect place to train. She had agreed to help Naegi, but with some slight confusion. "But I can understand wanting to be able to defend yourself, especially in situations such as this."

Naegi laughs sheepishly and scratches his head. He had put his mask back on and had acted friendly towards everyone since the start of the game. It was boring, but couldn't be helped. "I mean, don't get me wrong - I have zero doubts to our friends. I don't think any of us would try to kill each other. But as for the mastermind… Well, better to be safe than sorry in that case, right?"

Ikusaba's expression darkens as she looks away. Images of spears flash through her eyes - the experience of Junko's attempted execution was still fresh on her mind. "I can't disagree with you there."

"Anyway, what are we starting with?" Naegi asks, quickly changing the subject. "I would like to learn as much as I can."

"Ah, erm…" Ikusaba thinks hard. She had never tried to teach anyone how to do anything, much less how to fight. She had a lot of experience on the subject, but no matter how she thought about it, the words seemed to be unable to form. "Well, I guess… we can see how your hand to hand combat is?" Ikusaba suggest awkwardly

"Sure!" Though Naegi agreed with a bright look on his face, he actually had no intention of showing Ikusaba the fruits of Ogami's labor - that would undoubtedly bring suspicion on him.

_I'll just sandbag the sparring matches. Then, we can get to the fun part - using weapons._

…

"So..." Ikusaba just stood there dumbly, looking at her feet. The soldier was so used to receiving orders, that she wasn't sure how to proceed with giving them. To be frank, she wasn't the best teacher for this type of stuff. "Do we spar?"

Naegi blinks. "You're the teacher."

Ikusaba throws her hands up in frustration. "I _know _that, it's just that I don't know how to teach! I'm sorry Naegi, but I don't think that I'm good at this kind of thing. Maybe Ogami would be better suited to teach you."

Naegi walks up to Ikusaba and grasps both of her hands tightly, causing Ikusaba to jerk up in surprise. "Ikusaba, I would really like you to train me. I know that you're capable of being a good teacher. I believe in you, so don't give up!" Naegi says brightly.

"N-Naegi?"

Smiling softly, Naegi gives both of Ikusaba's hands a reassuring squeeze before letting go. Ikusaba was immediately aware of how cold the air felt on her now exposed skin. "If you really don't want to train me, then I won't nag you about it. But I would really like for you to."

…

"Okay." Ikusaba says firmly. "I'll try. Let's do this."

Naegi grins. "That's the spirit."

_It's so easy to manipulate people. _Naegi thinks to himself, mildly amused. _All I need to do is act like my usual hopeful self, and everyone would listen to what I have to say. They would all go out of their way to help me._

_,,,_

_I'm horrible._

* * *

**The 155th Killing Game.**

Naegi was burning time by training with Ikusaba. She had taught him more ways to defend himself in close quarters combat, as well as how to use a wide variety of weapons. One day, during one of her lessons, something popped into Naegi's mind.

It was a single, burning thought that had popped out of seemingly nowhere, one that both intrigued and horrified him. He was holding one of Ikusaba's serrated combat knives while this thought crossed his mind.

_What happens if someone wins this game?_

* * *

***A/N* Sorry if this chapter seemed sort of all over the place, school has been in the way of me writing for extended periods of time.**


	19. Act 3, Chapter 3

**The 156th Killing Game.**

Back when the first murder had occurred, back when Naegi was blissfully unaware of the time loop and investigating Maizono's death, he been feeling a tingling anticipation and anxiety all the way up until the class trial. Just knowing that someone had murdered one of his friends in cold blood, and that _ he _ had to find out who did it was enough to fill the air with a painfully thick sense of foreboding. The atmosphere was almost _ too _tense, as if a second murder might happen at any minute. The fragile blanket of trust and calm that had been wrapped around them was shattered in an instant, leaving nothing but the cold sense of mystery and danger.

It had been a long time since then, and Naegi thought that he would never feel something like that again. But now, as he sat on Maizono's bed and stared at the ticking clock on her wall, the exact same feeling of anxiety was almost overwhelming him. For the first time in a while, he felt _ alive _. Goosebumps rippled through his arms as his back was set in an unnaturally straight posture. However, this time he wasn't under the crushing pressure of investigation a murder - he was keeping himself in suspense by the knowledge of what he was planning to do.

_ What happens if someone wins this game? _

The almost alien voice that had whispered in his head was not quite his. He almost felt like the thought was planted there, like he was being brainwashed or something. Of course, he knew that he was doing this of his own free will. That the single burning thought that shot across his mind really was his, and that if he were to do this then Junko really would have won. This was something that she wanted him to do.

Naegi flinches as the minute hand on the clock moves forward another inch.

_ Why? Why would I do something like this? _ Despite his grim determination to carry out his plan, countless numbers of small thoughts plagued his mind, slowly poking holes of doubt through his brain. These thoughts were cold, and radiated a deeply sickening sense of horrified shock. _ Were all of those promises for nothing? Not only did you give up after less than five hundred tries, but now you're planning to... _

"Kill," Naegi mutters under his breath, though he was completely unaware of it.

_ … just to satisfy your boredom, to satisfy your curiosity? _

Naegi didn't know if he had gone through this killing game less than five hundred times or not. He had stopped counting long, long ago, so for all he knew, this could have been his thousandth loop. If he had to guess, then he would have to say that this was his four hundredth loop, though he could never be sure.

Another minute passes. Naegi flinches again, but less severely this time.

The only noise in Maizono's room was the unsteady pattern of his soft breathing, and the robotic _ ticks _ of the clock. If there was only silence in the air, then Naegi would have probably not been able to wait. The luckster deeply and truly believed that it would have swallowed him whole. Though the lack of silence was gratifying, the methodical _ tick _ noises from the clock that seemed to drum into his soul like the vibrating string of a pulled guitar was almost as bad. When Naegi knew that every _ tick _that passed signaled another second towards death, silence was almost preferable.

Even when nerves and anxiety pumped through every single inch of Naegi's body, he still managed to look calm, save for the regular winces that came with the passing of each minute. The mask that he had worn for so long was second nature to him, and so his expression was serene and distant. If someone looked at him, they would have guessed that he would be thinking about a riddle or old memories, not about how he was going to murder one of his closest friends.

Naegi counts forty seconds passing. In about sixteen seconds, _ he _would leave his room, having just stabbed Maizono. Then, Naegi would find out what lay in the graduation party. Would Junko even come out to see him? Would Monokuma just give him the remote to the outside world and leave? Would it all end up being a trap, and Naegi would end up executed with the rest of his classmates?

_ No consequences. Doesn't matter. _ Naegi repeats this thought in his head, like some sort of chant. He needed to remember that nothing that happened today was of any consequence. He needed to remember that everything could be undone, that this didn't matter.

_ No consequences. Doesn't matter. _

_ No consequences. Doesn't matter. _

_ No consequences. Doesn't matter. _

Of course, it was the night after Monokuma had shown off his motive videos. Naegi had come, he had faked his reactions, he had done everything perfectly. And just a little while ago, right on schedule, Maizono had come to rope him into her plans. He went along with it perfectly.

In a robotic fashion, Naegi stands up from his bed and makes a single file line towards his door. While his plan was simple, it was something that no one could have pulled off unless they knew what was going to happen. He knew that after Kuwata stabs Maizono, he would clean the room with a lint roller before leaving to dispose of his bloodied shirt. When Kuwata leaves the room, Naegi would quickly slip into the shower room and remove the knife before stabbing her again, effectively finishing her off.

Of course, Naegi didn't know whether or not Maizono would still be alive by then, but he was betting on the fact that Maizono would just be unconscious while she bled out.

Naegi slowly and quietly opens the door. Somewhere, far off in the distance, the quickly fading echoes of Kuwata's footsteps could be heard. Naegi quickly moves to his room. The door was left open, and was practically shouting invitations to him, invitations to _ kill. _Naegi wastes a precious second of Maizono's life to close his eyes and tilts his head up to the ceiling, heart jackhammering in his chest. The last time he had felt such raw excitement had been when he first stepped into the outside world. He had thought that Kirigiri's plan worked, and that he was finally free from the grasp of Junko and her

"Stupid damn time machine." Naegi says out loud in a thick voice that he hardly recognized as his own.

Obviously, he was still trapped. Nothing he could do now, really. He had accepted that.

That's why he was doing this.

Naegi speed-walks into his room and immediately turns to the open restroom. Already, the nauseating warm smell of blood clouded his bedroom. In spite of himself, Naegi feels a slight tick of sorrow as he looks down at Maizono's lifeless body.

Gritting his teeth, Naegi walks into his restroom and kneels down to Maizono, taking care not to stain his jeans on one of the growing puddles of blood. When he reached out his hands to Maizono's neck, he noticed that his arms were trembling. He tries to take a deep breath to calm his nerves, but just ended up getting a big waft of the metallic scent of Maizono's blood.

Shaking his head once, Naegi puts two fingers onto Maizono's neck. After a few seconds, he puts a hand over Maizono's mouth and nose. Finally, he presses an open palm on Maizono's chest.

"She's dead already." Naegi mutters, standing back up. He was too late. Kuwata would remain Maizono's killer. Even though Naegi's plan failed, he still felt a slight sense of relief. He didn't kill anyone - for now, he was an innocent man. Junko had not won yet.

_ … cut wide open and there was a torrent of blood spilling out. Blood, blood, blood, blood. Blood everywhere. On his hands, on his clothes, on his shoes, on the floor. Red almost completely filled his vision. Junko's usually animated face was completely still. Her eyes were greyed out and had as much life in them as rocks. In complete contrast to her- _

Naegi slaps himself in the face. _ Hard. _As the sharp stinging spreads through the entirety of the right side of his face, Naegi dazedly wonders to himself if this had changed his goal. Maybe now that he failed, he could give up on trying to win the killing game. The answer came to him quickly. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew that he was going to try again sooner or later. Like he had repeated to himself, nothing here mattered. His failure didn't matter.

The noise of his slap echoes throughout his room and the hallway. What if Kuwata had heard him?

_ I don't care _.

But he did care. Naegi knew he cared, and he despised himself for it. As swiftly as possible, Naegi leaves his bathroom and Maizono's corpse and goes back to Maizono's room, softly closing the door behind him.

…

Naegi harshly collapses onto Maizono's bed and screams into her pillow, almost suffocating in her scent. Ever since Kirigiri's plan had failed, Naegi had been aware of only three feelings for his classmates: pity, jealousy, and a weak, crumbling sort of friendship. He pitied them because they would never see the outside world, that they were doomed to die over and over again along with Naegi. He was jealous of them because they didn't have to remember. They didn't remember the suffering.

The fading sense of bond and trust he had felt for his friends had suddenly and rashly solidified inside of Naegi's heart and seemed to be ripping him to shreds. He was about to carry out a murder. Just to satisfy his morbid curiosity of _ what if _, he was planning to kill Maizono and by extension, kill the rest of his classmates.

Naegi moans pathetically and throws Maizono's pillow to the door. It makes a small thumping noise as it fell lifelessly onto the ground. Naegi looks down at his hands, and saw that they were shaking. Two warm tears fall onto his open palms and spills onto Maizono's bed.

"M-Maizono." Naegi says out loud. His voice seemed loud enough to shatter his eardrums in the small and quiet room. Vaguely, he wonders if anyone else heard him. He wonders if his voice was so loud that it penetrated the sound-proofed walls. "Maizono is dead. Maizono is dead. But she's not. Not really."

Naegi's mind was a messily shaken cocktail of fear, sorrow, and disgust. Suddenly, everything seemed too big, too threatening. It was as if someone had grabbed the dials that controlled his emotions and smashed them into pieces with a sledgehammer. He thought he was long past mourning his murdered classmates. It was hard to feel bad for someone after you've seen them get killed countless times over, and see them get brought back every time.

Yet here he was, crying over Maizono's death.

_ Am I? Or am I crying for myself? _

Suddenly, his head started to hurt. It felt almost exactly like the headache that he keeps getting after he gets sent back in time. Naegi almost expected to look down and see himself sitting in a desk. His heart and head were pounding so hard that he could barely hear his own shaky breathing.

Tiredly, Naegi falls backwards onto the bed and pulls the covers over his entire body. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to forget that he had ever thought about killing. But the worst part was that he knew it wasn't possible. For all he knew, he was going to be in this time loop for the rest of eternity. Sooner or later, he would really snap. Hell, he had already taken pleasure in fighting Ikusaba and

_ … - eone's life. Not only that, but he had mutilated his victim with a knife, slitting her throat open wide. And the worst part was that beneath the crawling sense of nausea and disbelief, there was one undeniable emotion. _

_ It was satisfaction. _

_ It was satisfaction, and it was th _

"Stop, please." Naegi begs, begs to the demons haunting his head. Any more of this and he thought that his brain would surely explode. Then, he would be sent back in time again and have to see Maizono alive and well. "Okay, I killed. I killed Junko because I was mad at her. I was mad because I didn't want to admit that she won. So please. Leave me alone."

_ But no, _ That unwelcome voice whispers in his mind again. The voice was Naegi's own, but it was unwelcome all the same. _ You didn't kill anyone. Maizono was killed by Kuwata before you could get to her. Junko is alive and running the Killing Game. No court in the country could charge you for a murder that never happened. You haven't killed anyone, isn't that right? _

"STOP!" Naegi yells out, headache flaring brightly. "ENOUGH!"

…

The luckster rolls over so that he was facing the ceiling. The rapid fire blasts of pain that were going through his head had lightened a bit, and Naegi found himself able to breathe again.

He falls asleep in two minutes.

* * *

"Hey guys! What's good?" Monokuma pops out of nowhere and jumps on the gym floor. "Since the first murder happened, I would like to further explain how the class trial would work!"

The rest of the day had gone on like it normally had, except that Naegi didn't faint when he discovered Maizono's body. All he felt was a remnant of the bubbling sickness that had nearly overtaken him last night. He was utterly lost and confused as to what he should do, or what he _ could _do.

"So, a certain amount of time after a murcer has taken place, a class trial will begin! Everyone will gather together, including the blackened who committed the murder. They, and the innocent students will all engage in one big debate showdown!"

_ I guess I could try to find the time machine again. _ Naegi thinks to himself, staring off into space as Monokuma rambles on in the background. _ But I've already searched through the whole school a bunch of times. _

He had already looked everywhere that may contain a time machine. In fact, he had even resorted to blowing up the air purifier during one particularly desperate loop where he thought that it really might have been a time machine in disguise (Monokuma had once joked about it).

"Okay, let me just add the rule I just described to your handbook." Monokuma says joyfully, taking a deeply exaggerated bow. "Be especially careful to keep it in mind!"

"W-Wait, hold on a second!" Ikusaba objects harshly, pointing down at Monokuma. "You're freaking insane, you know that?"

Naegi suddenly jumps with a jolt. He had forgotten all about Ikusaba. He had been so preoccupied about what he was going to do with himself that Ikusaba's scheduled execution had flown completely over his head.

_ Do I save her? Should I save her? _

"Hmmmm?" Monokuma tilts his head questioningly at Ikusaba.

"A class trial? What the hell is th-"

"Junko, I…" Naegi raises a finger up in the air hesitantly. The words had flown out of his mouth before he even knew what he was going to say. "Erm…"

"What?" Ikusaba stares at the luckster strangely.

"N-Nothing." Naegi shakes his head and lowers his hand. Inside him, thousands of conflicting thoughts and emotions were storming. Every single instinct told him to warn Ikusaba, that it wouldn't be much trouble. But his mind screamed that none of it mattered anyway, and that Ikusaba was just a threat to him anyway. "Sorry."

"Well before Naegi over there so _ rudely _interrupted… What were you saying?" Monokuma asks.

Ikusaba jumps, startled. _ Right, the script. _

"A-Anyway, why would I want to risk my life trying to find a murderer?!"

"Huuuuuh?" Monokuma puts a paw on his mouth, gasping dramatically. "You know, only the worst punishments await those who dare utter such blasphemy!"

"Punishment?" Ikusaba asks.

Meanwhile, nausea had started to creep up on Naegi. Flashing images of Ikusaba's corpse, riddled with holes and covered in blood, were going through his mind.

"I might, I dunno. Throw you into a deep dark prison or something?"

"Shut the hell up!" Ikusaba snaps. "Say whatever you want, I'm not participating in this!"

"Oooh, such evil standing before me!" Monokuma exclaims as sharp claws shoot out from Monokuma's paws. "But I won't give in. It's my style to stick it out until the very end! If you want to rebel, you'll have to get through me first!"

With that, Monokuma waddles pathetically towards Ikusaba, stubby arms flailing about.

_ *Smash* _

"Ugh!" Monokuma's limbs fly around aimlessly at Ikusaba traps the bear beneath her boot.

"Ha! Enjoying yourself now?" Ikusaba asks smugly.

"Are you?"

"Huh?"

"Violence against the headmaster is against school regulations! I invoke a mighty summon spell.." Monokuma says in an ominous voice, red eye glowing evilly.

Naegi felt as if he were going to vomit at any second.

"To me, Godly Spear of Gungnir!"

At the very last second, Naegi bounds forward at a breakneck speed and shoves Ikusaba as hard as he could. But he was a little late, and as Ikusaba flew backwards, one of the spears that had shot up from the floor pierced through her left hand, causing a fountain of blood to spurt out. The spear had struck in the web of flesh between her thumb and pointer finger, leaving behind a massive hole.

"Ugh!" Ikusaba grunts as she harshly strikes the floor. She sits up and looks at her hand unbelievably as waves of agony radiate from it. It felt like every single nerve on her body was on fire.

"Aw man, only a glancing blow!" Monokuma gets up from the floor, brushing himself off.

Panting, Naegi stumbles over to Ikusaba. He had expected the overwhelming nausea to dissipate when he saved Ikusaba, but it had doubled instead. Naegi could barely even walk straight. "Are… you okay?"

"J-Junko!" Fujisaki gasps.

"Ahhhhhhhh! Ms. Enoshima's bleeding!" Yamada shrieks.

Monokuma giggles and starts walking menacingly over to Ikusaba, extending his claws. "Puhuhuhuhu! Perhaps I should finish her off!"

"Oi! If you wanna kill anyone else, you gotta get through me first!" Suddenly, Owada jumps in front of Monokuma and raises his fists. "I've had just about enough of your fuckin bullshit! This proves that you killed that idol chick, so I won't hold back!"

While the raw, burning pain that was filling her hand was intense, Ikusaba's mind was on something else - Junko had just tried to kill her. It was only thanks to Naegi that he had lived. She glances over to him - his face was incredibly pale, and beads of sweat were dripping down his forehead. You would have thought he was the one who had the near death experience, not her.

"Gyahahahahaha! I dunno what's going on here, but things are getting pretty lively!" A maniacal voice echoes throughout the cafeteria. Evidently, Genocider Shou had come out.

"F-Fukawa? Are you feeling okay?" Asahina asks worriedly.

"Oh dang! Look at Ms. Milk Jugs over here! What did they feed you to make those pillows so juicy?"

"M-Milk jugs?"

Amidst the wave of confusion, Ikusaba grabs onto Naegi's arm with her good hand and drags him out into the hallway. Naegi's eyes were completely clouded over, and he barely even noticed Ikusaba dragging him. An almost crushing sense of depression had settled on him and doubled with the nausea, he was nearly at the point of fainting.

_ Why am I feeling this now? I thought I was done with this. I just want to stop trying. I can't do anything meaningful anymore, so why am I trying? I don't want to try anymore. I just want to rest. _

"Naegi. How did you know?"

…

Frowning, Ikusaba places her good hand onto Naegi's shoulder and gives it a firm shake. "Come on, Naegi. Please tell me. How did you know to push me?"

"I…" Somehow, Naegi gets even paler. He turns away from Ikusaba and starts dry heaving, choked gasps coming out in pitiful bursts. After a few seconds, he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand despite the fact that his mouth was completely dry. "I'm sorry... No I'm not. I don't know anymore."

Ikusaba's frown morphs into an expression of concern. Was Maizono's murder affecting him _ this _much? Or did something else happen that was making him like this? "Naegi. Are you feeling okay?" As Ikusaba asks this, she immediately does a mental facepalm - of course Naegi wasn't feeling okay. He looked like a damned zombie.

"I-Ikusaba. Just be careful a-about Junko, kay? A-Also, put a band-aid on or something." Naegi clears his throat and tries to stand up straight. With a small wave, he begins to stagger towards the dorm rooms. He looked and walked like a drunkard. "See you."

Ikusaba's face turns almost as pale as Naegi's. She tries to call out to Naegi, but quickly found that her jaw was locked tight. Not only did Naegi know enough about Junko's plan to save her, but he also saw through her disguise?

"Naegi…" Ikusaba whispers to herself. "What in the world happened to you?"


	20. Act 3, Chapter 4

Naegi sits down on the floor of his dorm as small trickles of burning tears fall down his cheeks, manifested from the incessant throbbing of pain in his head. Ever since he had saved Ikusaba, two voices, talking in soft whispers had manifested in his head. Soon, these murmurs had exploded into full blown shouts, ones loud enough to make his head vibrate.

The ailment that had plagued him had died down a bit - that was good. Now he didn't feel like he had to throw up at every single second he was awake, and he could actually see straight. Unfortunately, the voices that filled his head were almost as bad.

Both of these voices seemed to be _ attacking _him, berating him for everything he's done. One of these voices sounded like Junko, and the other sounded like Komaru, Nagei's sister.

Just how long had it been for Naegi since he had heard the voice of his own sister? It felt like years. In fact, from Naegi's perspective, it actually _ had _been years - over a decade. From time to time, Naegi felt a pang of sadness whenever he realized that he really wouldn't ever be able to see or hear his family ever again, except when viewing his motive tape from Junko (which wasn't exactly heartwarming). But now, he felt like he had heard enough of his sister to last him another decade.

_ Why aren't you doing anything?! _ The Komaru-like voice shouts at him, causing the luckster to wince. _ This isn't the Makoto I know! Get off your butt and start searching for the time machine! _

"I can't…" Naegi protests weakly. Somehow, he knew that no matter what he said, these voices wouldn't be silenced. He already had a pounding headache, and he could tell that things were only going to get worse from here. "I tried. I failed."

_ That's right! _ The Junko voices says smugly, voice oozing with victory. _ So come on! You've already given up, and you even got into fights with my sister! You enjoyed the pain and thrill, didn't you? Come on, take it one step further. Kill someone. Graduate from the Killing Game. _

"B-But, they're still my friends."

_ Noooo they aren't! _ Junko's voice squeals. Naegi could practically see her standing above him with a self-satisfied smirk on her face. _ No one is your friend now! You're lost in time. Take the plunge, Naegi. Kill them. _

_ Don't kill anyone else! _ Komaru's voice shouts so loud that Naegi cries out and slaps both of his hands to the sides of his head, covering his ears. But the voices were coming from inside him. There was nothing he could do. _ Save your friends! You're my brother, and the Ultimate Hope - you can totally beat despair! _

_ *knock knock knock* _

A sudden knock causes Naegi to look up from the floor. Who would be knocking on his door now? Everybody should be busy investigating Maizono's death. The only person Naegi could think of who would visit him right now would be Ikusaba, but she was probably tending to her hand wound.

Naegi unsteadily stands up and walks a crooked line to his door, ignoring the amplified volume of the voices. His head felt like it was being pressed in a vice that was on fire. It was a good thing that Naegi was accustomed to headaches - otherwise, he would probably be rendered completely immobile right now.

Naegi opens the door and is taken slightly aback as he is met face to face with…

"A-Ah, Kirigiri?" Naegi stammers. "What are you doing here?"

"I believe that I should be the one asking you that." Kirigiri says flatly, walking past Naegi and into the room, closing the door behind her. "If Maizono died in your room, then this should be hers, correct? Why do you have the key to Maizono's room? And for that matter, why have you locked yourself in here? Do you have something to hide?"

"O-Oh." Naegi says. He had been so distracted by his state of mind that he had completely forgotten that he and Maizono switched rooms. After talking to Ikusaba, he just stumbled to the dorm with his name plate on it and locked himself in. The fact that Maizono switched the nameplates had also flown over his head. "No, it's not like that. It's just that I wanted to be alone for a bit, and I guess I just forgot that this wasn't my room."

"Really?" Kirigiri asks in an off-handed manner as she examines the room. "Then you wouldn't mind me questioning you? You _ are _the only suspect we have as of yet."

_ Hey, why don't you kill the detective girl over there? _ Junko's voice suggests nonchalantly. _ Sure, you'll probably get caught, but wouldn't it be satisfying to watch her die? I mean, she IS the reason why you're trapped in the first place. _

_ Are you serious?! _ Komaru's voice exclaims, a hint of indignation present in her shout. _ She warned Naegi ahead of time that her plan was risky! It wasn't her fault at all! Besides, if we kill anyone, then Makoto might get executed! _

_ And that would matter… how? _

"Shut up, both of you." Naegi mutters under his breath.

Kirigiri turns around and looks at him, a brow raised. "What did you say?"

"Nothing. If you really need to, I guess you can ask me whatever."

Frowning, the detective takes a closer look at Naegi. There were wet spots present under his red eyes, as well as deep rings of shadows. It was obvious that he had been crying, and that he hadn't slept much last night. Every now and again, Kirigiri also noticed that Naegi winced randomly, as if he were in pain.

Truth be told, Naegi was something of an enigma to Kirigiri. When she had first talked to him at the beginning of the game, she had him pegged as a hopelessly optimistic guy. To be brutally frank, she didn't think someone like him would last long in a killing game. After Maizono's body was discovered though, all of the positivity and spirit vanished from him in an instant. Even _ before _her body was discovered, he seemed to be sort of lifeless when they had met up in the dining hall, as if he already knew that she was dead, somehow.

His distracted state seemed to be the only thing that seemed suspicious to Kirigiri. Everything else that she found pointed towards Kuwata being the killer - to her, the culprit was clear. But Naegi was not entirely innocent - the fact that Naegi knew much more than the rest of them did was obvious.

If anything, Kirigiri would have thought that Naegi was working for the mastermind, if not for the fact that he had pushed Junko out of the way from Monokuma's trap and that he seemed to be in serious pain over Maizono's death.

_ Perhaps that's what I should ask him about. _Kirigiri thinks to herself.

"Ok Naegi, tell me what you know." Naegi opens his mouth, but before he could even say a word, Kirigiri puts a hand up and gives him a flat stare. "Not about the murder. Tell me about your knowledge of this killing game."

"Wh-What?" Naegi blinks and stares at her incredulously. "What do you mean by that?"

_ Come on! _ Junko's voice screams loud enough to feel like both of Naegi's ear drums had just shattered. _ Kill her! _

_ She can help us! _Komaru's voice shouts back as a high pitched ringing noise joins the choir.

"I _ mean _that you're hiding something from everything else, something about the killing game." Kirigiri presses. "Since you saved Junko, it's clear that you know a good amount about the mastermind's plan. You might as well just tell me what you know."

Naegi gives a short, barking sort of laugh. Tell her what he knew? It would take way too long to tell her that much. If he tried to explain everything to her now, then they would probably have to sit here for the next five hours.

"I'm sorry, Kirigiri." Naegi says. "I don't think that I can tell you anything. And even if I did tell you… Well, you won't be able to do anything with the information I know." Kirigiri had already tried to tackle Naegi's time loop problem. All she had been able to come up with was the plan to overload the time machine.

_ And look where that got us! _Junko's voice cries.

_ Well, it's not like we came up with anything either. _Komaru's voice argues.

Kirigiri's frown deepens as a slight look of irritation spreads across her face. "With the information you know, of course I would be able to do something if you shared it. And why can't you tell me anything? I don't think you're working for the mastermind - in fact, I don't think that they even knew you know anything up until when you saved Junko. "

"Kirigiri, I-"

"Look." Kirigiri interrupts with a flat glare. "Moping around by yourself isn't going to help us escape. Just tell me what I want to know - it could help us all get out of here. That's what you said you wanted when everything first started, right?"

…

Amazingly, Naegi began to smile. It was a sad and wistful smile, but it lit up his face all the same, momentarily extinguishing the dark shadows and exhaustion that had overtaken him ever since Maizono died. It was somehow different from the grins that Naegi had given while everyone was introducing themselves - in fact, compared to how Naegi looked now, the smiles he had given back then looked almost obviously faked.

For a second, he looked like the Naegi that he once was - the Naegi who didn't need to put on a mask whenever he wanted to talk with his friends. The Naegi who didn't know anything about time loops.

To Kirigiri, he looked like someone who could have once held hope for the future.

"You normally act so cold and distant towards everyone, Kirigiri." Naegi says softly, locking his gaze with Kirigiri's. The voices that had plagued his head temporarily dampened as a cold cloud settled in his mind. "I wonder why you're acting like this, especially when it's only the start of the game."

"... You aren't making any sense." Kirigiri deadpans.

_ *ding dong bing bong* _

"Erm, so ah… I'm getting tired of waiting. What say we just get started, hm? It's time for the long-awaited Class Trial! Now then, allow me to appoint a proper location for the proceedings. Please go through the red door on the 1st floor of the school! Puhuhuhuhuhu! See you soon!"

All at once, Naegi's serene and almost bright expression vanished without a trace. His face went a nasty shade of gray, and his reluctant smile was replaced with an ugly grimace. It was hard to believe that this Naegi was the same person who had been standing here just a few seconds ago. The cloud muffling the two voices in his head evaporated into thin air.

_ Look on the bright side, Makoto! _ Komaru's voice says in an annoyingly cheery tone. Her voice was high enough to shatter glass. _ You know how to get past the class trial! You've done it a bunch of times! _

_ Yeah. _ Junko's voice says smugly. _ We get to watch another execution! Isn't that great? _

"Well, I suppose it's time for us to go." Kirigiri says stoically, swiftly walking past Naegi. As she opens the door from Maizono's room, she pauses and looks back at Naegi. He was staring after her, with a tired, sullen look in his eyes. She opens her mouth to say something, but thought better of it and simply turns around and walks away, to the elevator room.

* * *

Naegi found himself unable to look away as Kuwata is executed right in front of him. All around him, his classmates had expressions of shock and disgust on their faces. He must have seen this execution play out nearly a hundred times, just like how he had seen Maizono die nearly a hundred times.

But now, his death seemed a hundred times more gruesome. He noticed every single detail - the sound made from every single impact that each baseball made against Kuwata's flesh coursed through his head. Each drop of blood that spilled out of Kuwata's battered body seemed to vibrate intensely, highlighting every inch of the execution chamber in a gruesome coat of neon pink paint..

What made everything worse was that Junko was screaming and cheering during the entire process, drilling into Naegi's skull like a mental laser. She drowned out both Naegi's own thoughts and Komaru's voice. Her voice seemed to raise an octave every single time a baseball hit Kuwata. By the end of it all, Naegi felt like he was going to pass out.

_ Makoto. _ Komaru's voice says. Her voice was at a manageable volume, for once. _ Do you really want to keep seeing this stuff happen over and over? Don't give up. _

_ You're completely trapped. _ Junko's voice interjects. _ Might as well go with the flow, strap in for the ride! Kill someone besides myself. Trust me - despair feels good once you get used to it. _

"Shut up." Naegi mutters under his breath as he walks back to his dorm room. Since it was after the class trial, his entire room would have been cleaned up by Monokuma… and every trace of Maizono should be gone. "You're both just hallucinations cooked up from my stupid head."

_ Sure! _ Junko's voice vehemently agrees. _ You're going crazy. Why not embrace it and just let loose? Fujisaki's murder is coming up next. I bet you'll be able to find some way to make it interesting! _

_ Please, Makoto. _ Komaru's voice was pleading now, almost desperate enough to be begging. Naegi was only mildly surprised to find that he thought that he could hear genuine emotion in her voice. _ You don't need to kill your friends or anyone else! _

_ I mean, he already killed me once you know. _ Junko's voice comments. _ And he was going to kill Maizono - it was just that she died before he could get to him. _

Naegi groans in complaint as he enters his dorm and closes the door behind him. Sure enough, the entire room was cleaned out. It was as if nothing had ever happened here. The luckster haphazardly staggers towards his bed and collapses onto it. Sleep was all he wanted. Unfortunately, the arguing voices would make that near impossible.

As he closes his eyes and puts a hand on his forehead, Naegi finds himself thinking a single clear thought amidst the chaotic mess of his mind.

_ I would do anything to get rid of these voices. _

* * *

"So I did a little investigating of my own, and I dug up some of your darkest secrets!"

Monokuma had just called everyone to the gym in order to announce the second motive - secrets. Naegi had only come along because he knew that he would have been dragged along otherwise. He already knew everyone's secrets, and Monokuma's high pitched voice only grated his brain further.

"And those embarrassing memories and secrets are all contained in the envelopes I have right here. I'm going to hand them out now, so take a second to take a peek!" Monokuma says cheerfully, tossing the envelopes into the air.

While the other students scrambled around to get their envelopes, Naegi simply catches his with a single swift movement and shoves it into his hoodie pocket, not bothering to take a second glance at it.

"How'd you find out about this?!"

"What the heck?"

"You've got to be kidding me."

Various exclamations arose from the students as they read their deepest, darkest secrets.

"You have 24 hours! If someone doesn't get killed within that time frame, then all of your deepest, darkest, most embarassingest secrets will be exposed to the world! Maybe I'll blast these secrets on loudspeakers in a public street! Puhuhuhuhuhu!" Monokuma guffaws as he rubs his paws together in glee.

Naegi glances at Owada. His face had turned an unnatural shade of purple. Within the next 24 hours, he would lose his temper and kill Fujisaki. He knew from the class trial that Fujisaki died instantly, so he wouldn't be able to steal the kill there. Naegi knew he could take Owada on a fight - in fact, he could probably take both Ikusaba and Ogami in a fight now. But he wasn't going to go down without a struggle - a struggle that might leave evidence.

_ So what if you get caught? You think that being executed would matter? AHAHAHAHA! _ Junko's cackling voice echoes throughout Naegi's head, bringing with it fresh waves of pain. _ Just submit to the despair and kill! This denial is pathetic! _

"No one would murder over something like this! Your plan is doomed to fail Monokuma! In fact, I suggest that we all lay out our secrest right now! I'll even start us off!" Ishimaru quickly straightens up and clears his throat, but before he could say a single word...

"Oh, shut up you imbecile." Togami rolls his eyes as he interrupts Ishimaru. "Do you really think that I would tell any of you plebeians my secret?"

Ishimaru takes a step back as his face contorts into shock. "W-What?"

Ikusaba slowly nods her head. She had kept mostly silent and neutral ever since her near-death experience, but now she was crumpling her envelope into a ball, crushing it in her hand. "I wouldn't tell my secret to anyone… ever."

Naegi's eyes glass over as he begins to tune out the conversations from his classmates, instead focusing on keeping his head from exploding from his pounding headache. He had heard their indignations a thousand times over - he wouldn't miss anything if he were to gloss over them.

Ever since Kuwata had been executed, Komaru's voice had quieted significantly. Now, she barely tried to talk to Naegi and even when she did, her voice was actually at a reasonable volume. On the other hand, Junko's voice had increased in both volume and appearances. It's gotten to the point where Naegi had to physically restrain himself from trying to bash his own head into the wall. There were some moments where sluggish thoughts about suicide ran through his head, only for them to vanish once he realized thatit probably wouldn't matter.

_ *ding dong bing bong* _

"Ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then… sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight!"

Monokuma's sudden night announcement breaks Naegi out of his daze. Blinking dazedly, Naegi takes a look around and remembers that he was hearing about the second motive.

"Night already, huh?" Hagakure yawns. Despite the motive, he didn't seem all too worried about his secret. "Alright, I'll just call it a day then."

Naegi licks his dry lips and places a hand on his forehead. While it was covered in slimy cold sweat, there was also a raging storm of infernal heat in his skull. His hand recoils away from his forehead in a sort of flinching disgust. It seemed like all of his nerves except for the ones that specifically feel pain had faded into a dense fog.

_ For how many loops had I been hearing these voices for? Three? Five? Ten? A hundred? I don't even remember anymore. _Naegi thinks as he numbly makes his way back to his dorm.

_ Y'know Naegi, maybe we can make a deal. _ Junko's voice says. While her tone seemed calm and composed, Naegi was hearing her speak to him at what must have been ten times what her normal speaking volume would be. _ Kill someone and I promise you that I'll go away. I'll even get rid of your annoying sister for you. _

_ Makoto… _Komaru's voice mutters. Not for the first time, Naegi is amazed at how vivid his own hallucinations had been. He could hear the distinct mixture of disappointment, bitterness, and even a tiny sliver of hope in her voice.

It reminded Naegi of himself, several forevers ago.

"I'm going to get executed if I try killing Owada." Naegi mutters as he closes his dorm's door behind him. He knew that it didn't matter if he was executed. He knew it didn't matter if he _ wasn't _executed. He knew it didn't matter if the voices left him or not.

He knew that he was getting really tired of the phrase, "It didn't matter".

And he knew that he was just delaying the inevitable at this point.

Junko's voice knew it _ was _technically a part of Naegi's mind after all. So this time, she didn't bother to try and convince him further. She only said one simple sentence.

_ Togami would make an easy target during this case, wouldn't you think? _

Then she left Naegi alone for once, alone to collect his thoughts.


	21. Act 3, Chapter 5

"Hey, Togami." Naegi says softly with both of his hands clasped behind his back. He was holding two scissors - both genuine Genocider Shou ones. He invited Fukawa to hang out in the dining hall and then 'accidentally' cut his finger on a knife. While she was passed out, Naegi quickly grabbed some scissors from under her skirt before Genocider Shou could appear.

Togami freezes in place. Then slowly and deliberately, he stands up and turns around to face Naegi. He hadn't even noticed that the luckster had walked up to him. They were only a few feet apart.

Togami had just about finished crucifying Fujisaki. By using the laptop cord and the blood that came from her head wound, he managed to recreate a murder scene reminiscent of Genocider Shou. Of course, there were plenty of flaws in his handiwork. But this was the best he could come up with in the limited time frame he had.

"So, someone ended up catching me in the act after all." Togami scowls at Naegi disdainfully, pushing up his glasses with two fingers. "I would have thought that no one else would be up at this time of the night. I suppose that I was wrong, for once."

Naegi offers Togami a crooked grin, barely holding back a cry of pain. Unbeknownst to the affluent prodigy, Naegi's mind felt like it was under siege. Komaru's voice had returned in full force and was engaged in a fully fledged shouting match with Junko's voice. The rich agony throbbing through his head even affected his vision. Everything seemed extremely blurry, as if he were underwater. He even had a hard time walking to the crime scene. "I guess so."

_ MAKOTO! _ Komaru's voice screams. _ DON'T KILL HIM! DON'T LISTEN TO JUNKO! STOP IT, NOW! _

_ JUST FUCKING DO IT! _ Junko's voice screams back. Unlike Komaru's voice, which held an edge of terror to it, Junko's voice was seeping with excitement and joy. _ I know how you feel about Togami! You claim to be his friend but deep down, you fucking RESENT him, don't you? Such an arrogant, selfish brat deserves to be MURDERED! _

Togami sighs heavily and locks eyes with Naegi. "So now that you know, what are you going to do? Tell everyone that I murdered her? I bet that would be the first thing a commoner like you would do. You would tell everyone else in your flock before thinking for yourself, wouldn't y-"

"You're not the killer. You're just trying to pin the crime on Fukawa." Naegi interrupts. He points behind Togami at the crucified corpse, ignoring the sudden wave of grief that filled him as he saw Fujisaki's lifeless body. "That's supposed to resemble Shou's way of killing… but it isn't really a good imitation."

"What?" In his dumbfounded state, that was the only thing Togami could think of saying. He hadn't shown the files for Genocider Shou to anyone else yet - Naegi's knowledge of this was impossible.

_ PLEASE, MAKOTO! _ Komaru's anguished voice was so loud and filled with grief that Naegi nearly let out a yelp of pain. The raw anguish in his head was almost too much to bear. Any more of this and he would probably be the second victim in this case, not Togami. _ PLEASE! _

_ Just one meaningless kill_. Junko's voice whispers seductively, freezing Naegi's blood. _ Get away with it _ a_nd we will vanish. You have my word. _

"But, I guess I could help you in that regard." Naegi says, not noticing the small streams of tears pouring down his cheeks. They splattered onto the floor, mixing in with Fujisaki's blood. "Sorry, Togami. Can't say that you didn't deserve this."

"Wha- URK!" Togami gasps as a burning pain suddenly fills up in his chest. Togami tilts his head down with pure disbelief in his eyes.

There were a pair of scissors buried in his chest.

Soon, the pain is multiplied exponentially as Naegi, who was crying even harder stabbed him again with his other pair of scissors. The pain was like a white hot nova, completely consuming Togami like a blazing hot blanket. His blood spurts out everywhere. It splatters every inch of the room, including Naegi himself.

The worst part was that Togami didn't even have the strength to scream. He tried to, but it felt like the overwhelming pain was sapping all of his energy. He tried his best to shout out to anyone that might have been nearby, but all he could muster up was a weak cry of protest.

Naegi brings out both of the scissors from Togami's body. The luckster was sobbing uncontrollably now, oceans of despair and grief flooding both his body and mind. Tremors went up his arms, causing him to almost drop the scissors. Before he could second-guess himself, Naegi plunges both scissors right into the front of Togami's neck. New fountains of blood spew forward, drenching Naegi's hands.

Togami's eyes roll up to the back of his head as the pain quickly faded to a dull throbbing. As strength leaves his body, Togami falls backwards onto the floor. Aside from a few twitches, his body was completely lifeless.

Naegi falls onto his knees and shudders. He brings his sleeve upwards to wipe the tears from his face, only to recoil back as he sees that they were soaked in Togami's warm blood. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Junko whispers to him - _ Now, just finish the plan. Finish it, and you'll be free from everything. _

He hated Junko. But right now, he hated himself more. He didn't have to kill anyone, but he did. First, he murdered Junko. Then, he murdered Togami. And now, he was going to murder the rest of his classmates in one fell swoop.

Unsteadily, Naegi rises and stares down at Togami's lifeless corpse. Then, he looks up at the crucified Fujisaki. Another pang echoes through his empty chest as he stares into their dead eyes.

_ Go on. _ Junko's voice says smugly. _ You have a lot of work ahead of you. _

"Fuck you." Naegi mutters.

* * *

"Good Morning!"

Naegi rubs his eyes sleepily as he sits up on his bed. Monokuma was standing on the bed frame, stifling a few giggles with his paws.

"Oh, Monokuma." Nearly every single time, Monokuma visited his room to wake him up after Fujisaki's murder. He had no idea why, but it was one of the many things that remained consistent during his loops. It was as if Monokuma had a script. "What do you want?"

"Puhuhuhu! As you probably know, something has happened to one of your classmates. You should probably get to the dining hall - everyone else is there too!" Monokuma grins sadistically at the luckster.

Naegi winces. "O-Ok…"

"Oh, is lil' old Naegi feeling some remorse?" Monokuma asks. "You know, I recorded that little 'event' that happened last night. I played it over and over and over and over again! So much despair in a one minute clip… It's glorious!"

Gritting his teeth, Naegi gets off of his bed and glares at the monochrome bear. "You don't have to rub it in."

"But I do!" Monokuma exclaims, jumping off of Naegi's bed. "Can't you see? I've won! Makoto Naegi, the famed hope boy of Hope's Peak Academy has finally cracked! And it's been broadcasted throughout the entire world! My ratings will go through the roof once they see you completely slaughtering Togami! Puhuhuhu!"

"Stop." Naegi shudders as images of Togami's murder flashes through his eyes.

"Just tell me, Naegi. How many times did you go through this before you decided to see what would happen once you killed?" Monokuma asks gleefully. "Cmon, tell me!"

"I-I don't know."

"Then guess! Estimate!"

Naegi squeezes his eyes shut as he takes a deep breath. "Look, I said I don't know okay? Just leave me alone."

"Cmon, tell me! Don't lie to me, I know that you know! Tell me, tell me!" Monokuma exclaims, jumping up and down on the carpet.

"I don't know! I really don't know!"

"TELL ME!" Monokuma's face gets red as steam pours out of his ears. "I wanna know!"

"STOP IT!" Naegi shouts, running past Monokuma, towards his door. But before he could open it, two more Monokuma's pop up, blocking his path.

"Look, I'm just curious, 'kay?" One of the Monokumas says. His voice changer was off, so it was actually Junko's voice coming out of the bear. "I wanna know how long it took to break your spirit."

"EIGHT HUNDRED!" Naegi screams roughly, veins sticking out of his neck like thick vines. "EIGHT HUNDRED! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!"

"Hmmm, yeah. I guess so." One of the Monokumas say nonchalantly. Without saying anything else, all three of them vanish at once, leaving Naegi alone in his room.

Moaning in frustration, Naegi punches his door as hard as he can. Immediately, he regrets it as sharp pain runs through his hand. But at the same time, he didn't regret it. In fact, he felt as if he deserved to feel this pain for what he was about to do.

Closing his eyes, Naegi takes a few shuddering breaths to calm himself down. After a few seconds, he swiftly opens his door and walks out.

Being late might be cause for suspicion.

* * *

"Ah, Makoto!" Asahina quickly runs up to the luckster as he enters the dining hall. It was the morning after Monokuma had announced his second motive. He was visited in his bedroom as soon as the morning announcement played, prompting him to go to the dining hall.

"Did Monokuma talk to you as well?" Ogami asks, trailing behind Asahina.

Naegi nods, sighing tiredely. The mask that had once been second nature to him felt like it was crumbling. Right now, it was taking all of his effort not to crack. It felt like that if anything else were to happen to him, his scattered mind would just snap into two, like a dry twig.

"Where is everyone else?" Makoto asks, glancing around. Only Hagakure, Asahina, Ogami, and himself were there.

"They're off trying to confirm what Monokuma told us about… that a possible murder might have happened." Ogami informs him.

"M-Murder?" Naegi asks in surprise. "Another one?!"

"N-No! That can't be!" Asahina objects fiercely, eyes burning. "Who would kill over some stupid secrets?! No one would do something like that… right, Ogami?"

"Worry not, Hina." Ogami says soothingly. "Even if something as unfortunate as that did happen, I'm sure that we would be able to find justice for the victim."

"You're right…" Asahina sighs and stares down at the floor worriedly. The flame that had been ignited in her just seconds ago seemed to have been completely extinguished. "I just really hope that something bad doesn't h-"

**"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**

_ *ding dong bing bong* _

"A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, the class trial will begin. Please use the allocated time to investigate to your hearts content!"

…

_*ding dong bing bong*_

"A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, the class trial will begin. Please use the allocated time to investigate to your hearts content!"

* * *

Asahina and Sakura were the last ones to arrive at the changing rooms. There, Fukawa was passed out on the floor in front of the entrances. She had both of her hands pressed to her chest. Her face seemed even paler than usual.

"F-Fukawa?!" Asahina runs up to the unconscious writer and gently shakes her shoulder. "Are you okay?!"

"Hina." Ogami says. When Asahina looked up to her questioningly, Ogami nodded towards the female changing rooms. There, everyone else was gathered around something. They were talking to each other quietly, in almost a whisper while staring at something on the wall.

Asahina quickly moves in to join the group. "What happ…" Asahina's voice quickly dries up as she stares at the wall.

There, crucified in a gruesome manner, Togami was dead. Two scissors were stabbed through his wrists, pinning him onto the wall messily. Four puncture wounds were visible - two on his chest, and two on his neck. His usually neat and crisp suit was wrinkled, and completely covered in pink blood. The coppery scent of blood completely filled the room, and understandably so - it seemed like half of the room was painted in a coat of dried blood. On top of that, the words "Bloodbath Fever" was written on the wall next to Togami.

By Togami's feet, Fujisaki was also dead. She was laying face down on the floor and there were several large blotches of blood on her back. Though there were no visible stab wounds on her body, there was a spot on her head that was covered in dried blood. A dumbbell, also covered in blood, was next to her.

At first, Asahina could only stare, completely horrified at this gory scene. Then slowly, small trickles of tears began to pour down her eyes. "W-Why?" Asahina chokes out. "Two? T-Two murders? Why?"

"Hina… Are you alright?" Ogami asks, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"No." Asahina gulps and shakes her head. "No, I'm not alright! Who would do something so… so terrible?! Someone killed two people and did _ that _to Togami?! I mean, I knew he could be unfriendly at times, but who would hate someone that much?!"

"I don't know who did this, but I promise you Hina… We will find the culprit and make them pay." Ogami says in a low voice.

Back in the locker room, Monokuma was popped out of nowhere. He was waddling around with a large stack of tablets in his arms. The size difference was almost comical. "Hey guys! I've got the Monokuma file for this case! Take one and have fun investigating! Puhuhuhuhuhu!"

Grimacing, Naegi walks over to Monokuma and grabs a tablet from the top of the stack.

_ The victim was Chihiro Fujisaki. The body was discovered in the girls locker room, on the 2nd floor of the school. The cause of death was a blow to the head with a blunt object. She was killed instantly. _

_ The victim was Byakuya Togami. The body was discovered in the girls locker room, on the 2nd floor of the school. The cause of death was blood loss. His body had notably been crucified. _

After a once-over, Naegi sits on one of the locker room benches and places the tablet face down next to him. A few minutes ago, Komaru's voice started talking again. Thankfully, it wasn't as loud as before - but it was still loud enough to be extremely distracting.

_ Why…? Why Makoto? _ Komaru's voice cries. _ H-How could you do this? You've known Togami for years. How could you just kill him like that? _

_ Whatever. _ Naegi thinks as he tries to block out Komaru's voice. _ Whatever. WHATEVER. _

In a short while, the class trial would come. There, he would see if he would be figured out, or if Fukawa would be pinned as the killer. He had no doubts that if given enough time, Kyoko would be able to find out the truth. But he was hoping that the overwhelming majority of the class would try to get the trial done and over with as fast as possible… which probably _ would _happen.

_ It happens every time. _

* * *

"Let's begin with a basic explanation of the class trial! So, your votes will determine the results. If you can figure out 'whodunnit' then only they will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong one… Then I'll punish everyone _ besides _the blackened, and the one that deceived everyone else will graduate!"

"Is the killer really one of us? Someone really murdered those two like that?" Asahina winces as she remembers how both of the bodies had been tampered with. She was certain that for as long as she lived, she would never forget that scene.

"But of course!" Monokuma says joyfully. "One of you is the blackened! So figure out which!"

"I have a question." Kyoko says. "Assuming that each victim was killed by a separate murderer, do we have to catch _ two _killers?"

"Puhuhuhuhu!" Monokuma laughs. "Don't worry. If there are two murderers, only the one who committed the most recent murder counts!"

"So, only the most recent murder, huh." Owada scowls down at his feet with a dark expression. For a moment, he looked like he was about to say something but he closed his mouth at the last second, shaking his head.

"Alright, so erm…" Yamada raises a finger hesitantly. "What do we discuss first?"

"I mean, Monokuma just said that only the most recent murder counts, so I guess we should find out which one of them died first." Hagakure comments.

"I think that Fujisaki died first." Naegi says suddenly. "If we look at her head wound, then the blood looks almost completely dried out. But some of the blood on Togami's wounds are still wet. Wouldn't that mean that Fujisaki was wounded first?"

"That makes some sort of sense." Celeste says, nodding. "However, the fact that Togami's and Fujisaki's injuries are vastly different must be taken into account here. It is possible that the extreme difference in blood loss by Togami would change the results."

"Ah." Naegi says. "I guess it isn't that strong as evidence then, is it?"

"By itself, maybe not." Kirigiri interjects. "But there is another piece of evidence pointing to Fujisaki being the first victim."

"What is this evidence that you speak of?" Ogami asks.

"The only wound Fujisaki had received was the head wound, correct?" Kirigiri asks, putting a hand to her chin thoughtfully. "Then there should be little to no blood on his actual body. However, when we found him, he was laying face down on the floor… with blood soaked into the back of his uniform."

"Oh, that's right!" Naegi's eyes light up with understanding as he gasps. Of course, he wasn't very surprised with this revelation. In fact, he had dripped blood on the back of her body himself in order to make the order of death clear. "So that's why she had blood on her back?!"

"Wait wait, I don't get it." Hagakure scratches his head and looks at Kirigiri and Naegi with confusion in his eyes. "How does that prove anything?"

"There is only one plausible way that Fujisaki could have gotten blood on his back." Kirigiri explains calmly. "Fujisaki must have been dead and laying down on the ground when Togami had been murdered in the same room. Some of Togami's blood must have fallen and gotten on him."

"Ah, I guess that makes sense." Hagakure says uncertainty. "One more thing though - why are you calling Fujisaki a 'he'? She's a she!"

"No." Kirigiri deadpans. "I have examined his body - Fujisaki was most definitely a male."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Yamada shrieks, slapping both of his palms to his cheeks.

"No… No way!" Asahina gasps. "Is that why Fujisaki never wanted to swim with us?! Because it would give away that he was a guy?!"

"Wait a minute." Ishimaru says sharply, slamming both of his hands onto his podium. "If Togami is male… and Fujisaki is male… THEN WHY WERE THEY BOTH IN THE FEMALE CHANGING ROOMS?!"

"That's a surprisingly good point." Celeste says, smiling sweetly. "I _ do _ wonder about that… Could it be that Kirigiri is lying about Fujisaki's gender? Perhaps _ she _is the killer in this case."

"I assure you - Fujisaki is a male. I am not lying about anything." Kirigiri says icily.

"Oh? Then how do you explain this paradox?" Celeste asks, tilting her head slightly. "How could two apparent males find their way into the female locker rooms without being shot?"

"Simple. There's a loophole within Monokuma's rule. He says that loaning e-books isn't allowed, however… It doesn't say anything about _ stealing _a handbook from anyone." Kirigiri points out.

"Seriously?" Naegi asks. He glances over to Monokuma who was lounging on his chair, eating peeled grapes from a steel bowl, apparently paying absolutely no attention to the class trial. "Monokuma, is that really something someone can do?"

"Huh? Wuzzat?" Monokuma asks, sitting back up on his chair.

"Can you steal a handbook from someone and use it to access the changing rooms?" Naegi asks.

"Ooooh, what a naughty question!" Monokuma says in a sultry voice, cheeks turning a deep shade of red. "I suppose that if you _ did _ steal a handbook, it wouldn't be considered borrowing. So yes, you _ can _do that!"

"Well, that means the murderer can be anyone at this point!" Asahina groans, tossing both of her hands up in the air. "Gender doesn't even matter now!"

"Come on, there must be something else." Naegi says. "There has to be some sort of evidence pointing to Togami's killer!"

An awkward silence stretches out afterwards as everyone just sort of stares at each other. It seemed that no one had any findings to report. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Kirigiri brings out a folded stack of papers from her coat pocket. "I didn't want to reveal this so early, but… I did find this."

"Huh? What are those?" Yamada asks.

"These files are on an individual known as Genocider Shou. They contain detailed descriptions of Shou's modus operandi. Some of it has never been revealed to the public - meaning that it's likely that the real Genocider Shou is here among us."

"S-Serial killer?!" Hagakure screeches. "Nonononononononononono! I'm not hearing this! Nope, I'm blissfully ignorant!"

"Where did you find these documents?" Ogami asks.

"They were in the archive room." Kirigiri explains. "This murder fits Shou's usual procedure - crucified using unique pairs of scissors, Bloodbath Fever written on the wall with blood, and the victim being a young male. It all lines up."

"You say that this serial killer is here among us?" Ogami asks.

"Where?! Who is it?!" Yamada asks in a panicked tone, eyeing everyone around him suspiciously.

"M-Me."

For a second, no one knew who had just spoken. A thick silence spread through the entire courtroom before it was broken again.

"It was m-me." Fukawa, who had been sulking in a deep depression ever since Togami was killed, timidly raises her hand. "K-Kind of… "

"What?! There's no way you could be a serial killer!" Naegi exclaims. "I mean, don't you literally pass out at the sight of blood?"

"I-I hate her so much…" Fukawa grumbles, wrinkling her nose as she glares at both of her hands with disgust. "S-She killed my white knight. I h-hate her."

"Uh, did she finally lose it?" Hagakure asks, chuckling nervously as he scratches the back of his head. "She isn't making much sense here dudes."

Fukawa doesn't offer any rebuttal, instead withdrawing back to her gloomy silence.

"No." Kirigiri says, holding up a piece of paper in the air. "She makes plenty of sense. According to these files, Genocider Shou likely suffers from a split personality disorder. This would explain her wording here, as well as some of her actions in the past."

"Hm, a split personality, huh?" Yamada asks as he nonchalantly leans away from Fukawa, who was right next to him. "How cliche."

"Hey, yeah that actually would explain a lot!" Asahina exclaims, pounding a fist on her palm. Back when Junko almost got killed by Monokuma, she acted a bit weird, and was laughing really crazily! That must have been Shou's personality!"

"So, it was Fukawa who killed Togami?" Naegi asks. "But then, who killed Fujisaki? I think we should try to figure that out too."

Kirigiri nods. "There are plenty of missing details in this case that I would like to clear up as well."

"Huh?" Hagakure scratches his head. "We know who to vote for dudes, what's the point?"

"If we just rush into voting without knowing all of the details, we could be executed." Kirigiri says. "Now then, is anyone here missing their handbook?"

…

No one said anything. Apparently, they all had their handbooks.

"This is relevant… how?" Celeste asks.

"While Genocider Shou could have gotten into the changing room by her own accord, that still does not explain Fujisaki. By him being there, it shows that either a female let her in, or a females handbook was stolen. Since no one had theirs stolen, I suppose it can be assumed that whoever murdered him was female as well." Kirigiri explains.

_ Wrong. So, painfully wrong. _Naegi thinks.

_ You're winning this one, pal. _ Junko's voice says cheerfully. _ As per our agreement, once you graduate, you won't be hearing from me or your sister anymore! Won't you miss us? _

"Nope…" Naegi mutters under his breath.

"Isn't it possible that Genocider Shou killed Fujisaki as well?" Celeste glances at Fukawa, face full of disdain. "She _ is _a serial killer."

Kirigiri shakes her head. "Not only was Fujisaki thought to be a girl, but she was killed by a blunt object - it contradicts her M.O."

"I suppose you're right about that." Celeste says. Then, she suddenly puts a finger up, eyes wide. "Oh, and by the way - I apologize for not mentioning this earlier, but I saw Fujisaki last night. He seemed to be in a hurry and was carrying a duffel bag. In it, was a black tracksuit. When I questioned her, he said that he was going to exercise."

"Well, that confirms that he went into the boys female room of his own will. Afterwards, he, along with Togami, but ended up dead and in the female changing rooms." Kirigiri mused.

"Ugh, come on! Togami's case is obvious and that's all that really matters right now, right?!" Hagakure exclaims. "We can figure that other stuff out later! Let's just vote!"

Fukawa flinches, but doesn't offer up any objections.

Owada sighs heavily and puts a hand to the back of his neck. "Yeah, let's just get this over with, huh? I'm beat."

"Oh? Are we ready to proceed to the voting?" Monokuma asks, perking up.

_ This is too easy. Something's wrong. _ Kirigiri suddenly thinks. Her eyes suddenly widen as she puts a hand over her mouth. All at once, her intuition starts shooting off alarms. _ This is a framing. But how? _

"No. We should fully deliberate the case at hand before proceeding." Kirigiri objects. "There is still a murder unaccounted for."

"Blunt force, and the murder weapon was the dumbbell right next to him. I guess he wanted to train with someone, but this person ended up killing her instead. And since he himself was a boy, wouldn't it make sense that he had asked to work out with another boy, and was subsequently killed by this boy?" Naegi asks thoughtfully. "Or could it really be another girl?"

"The only male I can think of that Fujisaki would ask to train with would be Mr. Owada." Yamada comments. "Well, perhaps Mr. Ishimaru as well.

"I must be a role model to students everywhere!" Ishimaru roars, eyes burning like wildfire. "ROLE MODELS DO NOT KILL!"

"Yeah, and I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt a chick!" Owada shouts.

"But Fujisaki's a dude." Hagakure deadpans.

"Oh, yeah…" Owada says awkwardly. "Well still, I wouldn't kill him!"

_ Sure. Sure, you wouldn't kill him. _ Naegi thinks bitterly. _ But I can't really criticize Owada for lying, can I? No, I can't do that at all. _

"Ugh, you know how long this trial has been going on for?! Monokuma shouts, throwing his arms up in the air exasperatedly, knocking over his bowl of grapes in the process. "If you guys don't finish up soon, I'll just call the vote! I'M BORED!"

"We know who the killer is! She even admitted it herself!" Hagakure shouts, pointing at Fukawa. "We can vote!"

"Yes, I would like very much to get the trial over with." Yamada says nervously, sweat pouring down his face like a waterfall. "I feel _ very _much threatened right now."

Kirigiri shakes her head. For the first time since the killing game first started, panic starts to set in. The evidence was clear and they had a confession from the killer. So why did every instinct in her body scream that something was wrong? It all seemed too perfect. "First, why won't we talk to the Shou personality? I'm sure that if we-"

"YOU WOULD BRING OUT A KILLER IN THIS COURTROOM?!" Ishimaru shouts indignantly. "SERIAL KILLERS ARE NOT WELCOME IN A SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT!"

"What if she tries to kill someone else?" Asahina asks. "It might be dangerous."

"I just want to get this trial over with…" Owada mutters.

Murmurs of agreement echoes throughout the trial room. Everyone was exhausted - they had just seen two gruesome murders and were forced to investigate them and then debate about it for hours. Now that they knew who the killer was, everyone felt like that the case could just be shut.

"Well, if everyone is in agreement…" Monokuma says. "Then it's time for the ultimate climax! Who will you elect as the blackened? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one? Puhuhuhuhu!"

Naegi squeezes his eyes shut as both Junko's and Komaru's voice suddenly scream at the same time. Junko's scream was filled with pure delight and excitement, while Komaru's voice was filled with terror and despair. They were both loud enough to cause Naegi to nearly collapse onto the floor.

Monokuma raises an arm up in the air dramatically.

"It's VOTING TIME!"


	22. Act 3, Chapter 6

**Guilty Verdict:**

**Toko Fukawa has been selected as the blackened!**

…

"Puhuhuhuhu…" Monokuma giggles hysterically, putting both of his paws up to his mouth. The giggle seemed to completely muffle the tired, yet triumphant atmosphere in the room as the other students look at him with confusion. His red eye glowed devilishly as his giggles grew into fully fledged laughter. "PUHUHUHUHUHUHU!"

_ I knew it. _ This single thought burned into Kirigiri's mind, sending violent tremors down her spine. _ I lost. We lost. _

"What?" Yamada asks nervously, pointing a trembling finger at the bear. "Why are you laughing like that?"

"Because…" Monokuma says, stifling another fit of giggles. "Because because because because, you got it wrong! The TRUE blackened in this case was… Makoto Naegi!"

…

In a short of shocked, silent awe, everyone slowly turns to face Naegi. Within the span of a few seconds, the luckster had morphed from looking just slightly disheveled, into a complete and utter mess. The cracking mask that he had been barely keeping on finally falls apart as he meets the betrayed stare of every single one of his classmates. For the first time in what seemed like years, Naegi's true face was on full display.

His eyes seemed completely devoid of any hope. They were as dull as marbles, and the muted green color of his pupils only showed exhaustion and despair. Pitch black half-circles were stacked on top of each other, sagging his eyelids down as if they had weights attached to them. The luckster looked more akin to a forty-something year old adult who had been living on coffee for the better part of their lives. As soon as the voting results had been announced by Monokuma, any color that his countenance might have held vanished without a trace, leaving nothing but a shell.

Naegi squeezes his eyes shut and grips his podium with both of his hands so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Already, dozens of thoughts start flooding his brain_ . _He asked himself why he did this. He asked himself what he was going to do after this loop. He reminded himself to not look at his classmates in the eyes in their executions. But above all, one singular, rising chant was repeated. He desperately clung onto this thought, praying that it would save him.

_ None of this matters. _

"So, as per the rules, _ all _of you will be punished! All of you that is… except for Naegi! Puhuhuhuhu!" As Monokuma's high pitched voice echoes through the courtroom, Naegi opens his eyes under a mask that was quickly cracking.

"How?" Kirigiri demands. It was barely noticeable, but underneath her wavering calmness, there was a hint of betrayed, puzzled hurt. She hadn't expected for Naegi to be the killer _ at all _ . In fact, besides Fukawa, the only person she could find even _ guess _ to suspect was Ikusaba, Owada, and Ishimaru. Owada and Ishimaru because they were both the prime suspects for the murder for Fujisaki, and Ikusaba because she was a natrual born killer - both extremely flimsy cases. "How did you know to completely match Genocider Shou's killings?"

"I read the files." Naegi says in a robotic fashion. He stared at Kirigiri, but was really looking past her. He feared that if he looked into her eyes, then he would just snap. "And I guessed that Fukawa was Shou."

"W-Wait a sec, but Genocider Shou _ herself _confessed!" Hagakure says frantically, pointing at Fukawa. "This is rigged! This isn't fair!"

"Fukawa suffers from dissociative identity disorder." Naegi says in the same robotic fashion. "She doesn't share memories with her Shou personality. Fukawa just assumed that she killed Togami when she saw his corpse."

"Puhuhuhu! That's enough dilly dallying!" Monokuma's wide grin splits even further, practically cleaving his face in two. "I've had a feeling ever since the trial started that Naegi would pull through! I'm so excited that I might just explode! Let's get to the executions! Whaddya say, Naegi?"

"..." After a few seconds, drops of tears spill down from Naegi's eyes. He brings a single hand up into the air, and then smashes it onto his podium as hard as he could. An almost explosive cracking noise booms throughout the courtroom as bones in his hand fractures. Letting out a strangled cry, Naegi raises the same hand and slams it down on his podium again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

…

Finally, right when Naegi thought that he might have passed out from the pain, he slowly brings his mangled hand to hang at his side. Panting heavily, Naegi slowly raises his gaze and stares right at Monokuma, who was still smiling sadistically in his chair and said one word: "Okay."

"Well then!" Monokuma claps his paws together, drawing the attention of the rest of the students, who had been staring at Naegi in a shocked silence. "Without further ado…"

"N-No." Yamada is the first to start talking. "NO! NONONONO! STOP IT!"

"AHHHHHH!" Hagakure jumps out of his podium and frantically runs to the elevator and starts slamming on the door with his hands. "LET US OUT OF HERE!"

"Are…" Asahina shakes her head in disbelief. "Are we going to die?"

Ikusaba, who had been keeping her silence ever since the trial had begun, stares at Naegi. The soldier looked into his face, trying to find a glimpse of the bright, hopeful smile he had always given her during the school years. But there was nothing. Nothing at all. On his tired, hollow face, there wasn't anything.

Except for defeat…

And despair.

"Let's give it everything we've got! IT'S PUNISHMENT TIME!" Monokuma brings out a small wooden hammer and enthusiastically brings it down on a red button that popped up in front of him.

Instantly, iron collars attached to chains shoot out from opened trapdoors on the roof and secures itself on the necks of each of the students, preventing them from moving around. Each clamping of the collars signaled their inevitable death.

"I-I'm going to meet my white knight." Fukawa mutters to herself in a soothing tone. "I-I won't have to be _ here _anymore."

"You…" Celeste stares at Naegi with a furious expression, her eyes blazing. If looks could kill, Naegi would have dropped dead right then and there. "You _ bastard _."

…

As all of the students are swiftly transported to their execution chambers, one more chain and collar suddenly drops down from the roof. It closes around Naegi and roughly pulls him away. For a moment, Naegi thought that he was going to be executed instead of being allowed to graduate - he found himself completely fine with that result.

But instead of an execution chamber, Naegi finds himself being brought to a familiar looking room.

The Data Processing room.

Before his mind could even register this, the door swings open and Junko shoots forward with a big, cartoonish grin and grabs his right hand, which was the one he had damaged at the trial. At the same time, his collar unlocks and vanishes without a trace. Naegi didn't even have the energy to scream in pain.

Junko pulls him into the Data Processing room, and then into the Monokuma Control room. There, she shoved Naegi into a chair. Iron clamps closed over his arms and legs, preventing him from moving around. His right hand throbbed in fresh, horrible agony.

With a sickly sweet smile, Junko pulls up a swivel chair and sits next to him with a bucket of buttered popcorn. They were both facing a large, bright monitor with live feed from the execution chambers.

"Oh, Makoto." Junko purrs, softly stroking the luckster's cheek with her hand. "We're going to have _so_ much fun. Trust me - this is going to be _amazing_."

**Game Over**

**Kirigiri, Fukawa, Yamada, Ikusaba, Owada, Ishimaru, Asahina, Ogami, Celeste, and Hagakure have failed to find the culprit.**

**Time for the punishment!**

As the game over screen transitions to the first execution, Naegi finds that he didn't want to watch this. He didn't want to watch it at all. But he couldn't tear his eyes away from the piercing light of the monitor. It consumed him, consumed his pain, consumed his thoughts, consumed him whole.

* * *

**Cage of Death**

Monokuma (Who was wearing a mocking pompadour wig) rev's the engine of a large motorcycle, decorated with bright paint and flags. Owada, who was tied up and placed behind the bear, looks on in horror. In front of them, there was a giant metal cage in the shape of a sphere. Two tiger heads flank the sides of the ball. Behind them, a circus tent is placed.

After a couple of seconds, Monokuma abruptly shoots forward, riding the motorcycle at an extremely high speed. He jumps off the bike, leaving Owada to his own devices as the bike runs inside the metal cage and begins to speed up dramatically. As Owada swirls around the cage faster and faster, strong electric charges runs through the metal cage, causing bright and colorful lights to flash in the execution chamber.

When the bike finally slows down and the lights die down, there's nothing left of Owada.

**Execution Over!**

* * *

**The Burning of the Versailles Witch**

Celeste is tied up to the body of a large wooden stake as several masked Monokumas, holding torches and pitchforks, crowd around her excitedly. Eventually, one of the Monokumas uses their torch to ignite a stack of hay near the foot of the stake.

The fire spreads quickly, consuming the stacks of hay and spreading to some of the wooden cottages nearby. Sweat pours down the gambler's face as she quickly finds herself being slowly swallowed by a blazing inferno.

Out of nowhere, a fire truck suddenly comes rushing in. In Celeste's eyes, the smallest twinkle of hope is seen. But the fire truck didn't stop to try and extinguish the flames - instead, it swiftly drives off of a ramp and collides directly with Celeste's bound body.

**Execution Over!**

* * *

**Excavator Destroyer**

Ogami is bound and tied up by an endless number of thick, metal chains. She is then placed onto an old, flimsy looking wooden chair as various modern buildings and gates are erected behind her. As Ogami stars struggling with her binds, Monokuma drives an excavator, ramming through a few of the previously mentioned buildings and gates. He stops the excavator only a few feet behind Ogami.

Monokuma, wearing a hard hat, pushes forward on one of the levers in the excavator. The excavator's large, clawed arm is brought up into the sky. For a tense second, nothing else happens.

Then, he pulls the lever down. The arm smashes down onto the martial artist with extreme force. Ogami gasps as the full force of the excavator smashes into her back. High pitched squealing noises are heard as the excavator arm grinds into her chains. Some of them had snapped from the sheer force.

Before Ogami could brace herself, the excavator beings to slam down on her at a ridiculously increased speed. Monokuma flails about in the excavator as it hits Ogami again and again. By the time all of the chains that were holding Ogami down breaks, splatters of blood and fragments of bone began to fly out in a frenzy as Ogami is slowly and brutally torn apart by the machine.

Then, it was over. Monokuma finally stops the excavator and backs it up slightly, allowing the sole spectator - Naegi, to look at her mangled corpse. The back of her head and shoulders were completely torn apart. Naegi could see the gooey gray matter that was once her brain start to slowly drip out of her cracked skull.

**Execution Over!**

* * *

**After School Lesson**

Kirigiri is forcibly restrained to a school's chair and desk and is placed in a large conveyor belt. In front of her, Monokuma brandishes a large pointer stick and begins to lecture the detective on several random topics on a blackboard. As the conveyor belt slowly pulls both of them backwards, a loud rhythmic thumping noises drums out from behind Kirigiri. Each thumping noise was caused by a gigantic compactor, smashing onto the ground at the end of the conveyor belt.

Slowly but surely, Kirigiri is dragged backwards as the compactor continues to routinely slam onto the ground with thousands of pounds of force. After an excruciatingly long wait, Kirigiri finally comes directly underneath the compactor. It stalls, for only a second. That second seemed to last years.

Then, it slams onto the ground, completely crushing Kirigiri, as well as the desk and chair. Tiny, flattened bits of flesh, hair, and clothing is all that's left of the detective. The conveyor belt continues to move backwards, and dumps her remains into the gaping maw of a garbage chute.

**Execution Over!**

* * *

**Cupid's Wrath**

Yamada is tied to the ground, spread eagled, as hundreds of tiny Monokumas run around and past him in a hurry. They were wide-eyed and sweating bullets, apparently terrified of whatever they were running from. As the horde of Monokumas begin to thin out, a slow, rhythmic stomping noise is heard coming from the direction they were running from. Eventually, a towering figure comes forth, casting a giant shadow on top of a panic-stricken Yamada.

It was Princess Piggles, in all of her pink glory. She was wearing her typical uniform, with small white wings on her back. In her plump hands, she held her trademark bow, loaded with hundreds of arrows. Each arrow had heart-shaped tips that gleamed in the light. For a single moment, Yamada's eyes light up in excitement - his excitement is quickly replaced with complete horror as she begins to bring her bow up.

She aims it up at the sky, completely expression-less. Yamada, who is still restrained to the ground, starts to tug at his restraints frantically.

Princess Piggles fires, shooting hundreds of arrows to travel in an arc. Her shot flew straight and true, falling on Yamada like a storm. The ground around Yamada is completely littered with arrows as each and every projectile burrows itself into either the ground, or into Yamada. Various fountains of blood sprout up all as arrows puncture nearly every inch of his body.

Somehow, every single arrow that is embedded into Yamada misses his vital points. Over the next several minutes, Yamada does nothing but writhe in silent agony as blood slowly drains from his body.

**Execution Over!**

* * *

**Final Exams**

Ishimaru is chained to a desk in the middle of a large, vast empty classroom. More metal chains pop up around him and restrains him further into a straight sitting position. Eventually, only his arms and heads were free to move around. In front of him, a freshly sharpened pencil and a piece of paper lay on his desk. The paper is completely blank, save for a single sentence written on the top in fine print.

**"Write a 1,000 word essay on why you shouldn't be executed."**

Ishimaru's eyes light up as he reads this. Hope begins to fill him as he grins confidently. He hopes that he would have a chance to escape this execution after all. The moral compass grabs the pencil with his right hand, but before he could begin writing, a mechanical arm falls from the roof and grabs his right hand. At the same time, a second arm appears behind him, poised above his back with a large, razor-sharp pen.

Ishimaru stares at his hand with confusion, then panic as the arm gripping his hand and the arm behind him both starts whirling loudly. It begins using Ishimaru's hand to write on the piece of paper in an incredible speed. At the same time, the arm behind him starts writing on Ishimaru's back with the pen. It easily cuts through Ishimaru's uniform and tears onto his skin, causing blood to spurt out.

Ishimaru screams horribly as literal smoke begins to rise out from his back, mixing in with the mist of blood spraying from his expanding wounds. By the end of it all, the 1,000 word essay was finished in a mere 30 seconds. The same things were written on both Ishimaru's back, and on his paper.

**"FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL…"**

The word "FAIL" 1,000 times. Both mechanical arms vanish as the moral compass is left alone, restrained on his desk to die slowly as blood drains out of his mangled body.

**Execution Over!**

* * *

**One In Three**

Hagakure is placed at the start of an infinitely long hallway. The hall was slanted upwards, and every couple of feet, there was a lit torch, dimly lighting up the long passageway. As the entrance behind Hagakure slams shut, Hagakure finds himself with nowhere else to go. With a heavy sigh, Hagakure begins to trek up the hallway, muttering prayers all the while.

After several minutes of walking, Hagakure finally finds the end of the hallway. There was a large gray door, with a red, glowing exit sign hanging above it. On the floor in front of the door, there were three large buttons. Each button was a different color - red, orange, and yellow.

Hagakure digs into his coat pocket and takes out a crystal ball. He peers into it with one eye shut. After a full minute of deliberating, he goes to the orange button. Taking a deep breath, Hagakure hesitantly pushes the button with his pointer finger.

Miraculously, the gray door swings open, revealing a wide room with a cake and balloons everywhere. The clairvoyant jumps up and pumps his fist and celebration. He quickly runs forward to the exit, but is quickly stopped short as a gigantic boulder suddenly falls out of nowhere, crushing the cake and popping the balloons. It falls through the gray door and rolls down the slanted hallway, gradually picking up speed. Panicking, Hagakure runs back down the hall, screaming his head off.

Eventually, Hagakure reaches the locked doors at the beginning. Out of breath, he begins banging on it, shouting and begging to be let out.

Nothing happens.

The boulder tumbles down the hall.

Hagakure is completely crushed by the boulder.

**Execution Over!**

* * *

**Hellfire**

Ikusaba is thrown into a gigantic, white room. It was brightly lit with hundreds upon hundreds of lightbulbs, lining the ceiling. Besides the light bulbs and several turrets attached to the walls, it was completely empty. Monokumas were manning the turrets, each one wearing a green combat helmet and grinning sadistically.

As Ikusaba stands up and brushes herself off, the barrel of each turret begins to spin. They spun around and around and soon, the entire room was filled with sharp banging noises as each turret rapidly spits bullets at Ikusaba.

The soldier does her best to dodge every single bullet. With a grim scowl on her face, she dodged each and every projectile sent her way as she found herself trapped in an almost graceful dance as she twists her body around, not letting a single bullet graze her.

After fifteen minutes, Ikusaba begins to tire. The turrets showed zero sign of either running out of ammo or overheating. Sweat pours down her face and falls onto the white floor, darkening it ever so slightly.

After thirty minutes, a bullet finally hits its mark - a glancing blow to Ikusaba's leg. It barely touched her skin, but it was enough to throw her off balance. As soon as that happened, it was all over.

Ikusaba is completely and utterly decimated as showers of bullets completely ravage her body, tearing her to mere shreds. In a few seconds, her body is torn into unrecognizable bits. She didn't even have time to scream. These unrecognizable bits are shot until they dissolve into mere particles. Her bones, her flesh, her organs, and even her clothes turn into dust.

Soon, all that was left was a quickly spreading puddle of blood, painting the floor of the room in a blossoming stain.

**Execution Over!**

* * *

**The 500 Meter Sprint**

Asahina finds herself placed in a large indoor track field. Every twenty meters, there was a sign with distance markers displayed. At the very end of the hall, there was a timer for 60 seconds along with a small case of stairs leading out of the room through a gap in the ceiling. Next to it, there was a final sign listing the distance she would need to run in big bold letters:

**500m**

A Monokuma pops up next to Asahina, dressed in a baseball cap and a black and white striped shirt. It lifts a gun above his head.

_ *BANG!* _

As soon as it fires, Asahina's chains are taken off. At the same time, water begins to pour in from various holes on the roof. Water splatters onto the ground and quickly spreads as the track slowly fills with water. For a terrifying second, Asahina only looked around, frozen in shock. But when she takes a second glance at the timer at the end of the hall, she breaks out in a sprint at a neck-break speed.

_ 50 seconds _

Asahina bolts down the track, desperation plastered clearly on her face. The water that was quickly filling the track weighs down her feet, slowing her down dramatically.

_ 30 seconds _

The water reaches three feet in height, completely covering the entire ground of the track. Letting out a shout of frustration, Asahina quickly rips off her shoes and socks and tosses them behind her. Transitioning to a swim, Asahina begins to travel at a lightning-fast pace as she zips down the track.

_ 15 seconds _

Asahina reaches the 150 meter mark. She hadn't slowed down at all since she began swimming - only moving forwards at a swift, steady pace with only one goal in mind - the stairs at the end of the track. The water filled most of the room at this point, leaving only a small portion of the stairs unsubmerged. There were only about two feet of space left between the water and the roof.

_ 5 seconds _

Asahina was a mere twenty meters away from her goal. She had finally begun to slow down as exhaustion began to take its toll. The extended period of alarmed adrenaline that had been pumping through her body ever since they had lost the trial begins to falter. The room was completely filled with water now, so Asahina was forced to hold her breath as she continued to swim forwards. The case of stairs begins to rise to the ceiling, closing in on itself.

_ 0 seconds _

The stairs completely fold up, leaving no exit left in the entire track room. The gaping holes that the water was pouring from had sealed up as well. Asahina finds herself trapped in the room, completely submerged in water. Slowly but surely, she begins to lose energy as oxygen is drained from her body.

Eventually, Asahina loses consciousness. Water fills her lungs as she drowns. Her brain shuts down as it loses all sources of oxygen.

**Execution Over!**

* * *

**Peine forte et dure**

Fukawa is restrained to the ground, placed face up and tied with the use of rough, wirey ropes. A long wooden plank is placed on top of her, length perfectly matching the writer's height. It travels from the top of her head all the way down to her feet.

A Monokuma wearing a fuzzy sweater and horn-rimmed glasses walks up to her with a large stack of books in its arms. It evenly distributes the books on top of the wooden plank with an eerie calm. The plank shifts downwards slightly from the weight.

As the Monokuma runs out of books, it leaves. Two more takes its place, all wearing the same outfit and carrying even more books. They do the same thing, placing the books across the wooden plank evenly, adding more and more crushing weight on top of Fukawa. As the two leave, three more takes its place, repeating the same actions. Then four Monokumas, then five, then six, then seven… And with each one, they bring more and more and more and more books.

Fukawa shrieks in horrifying agony as she is slowly and painfully crushed by more and more books. The overbearing pressure eventually snaps her ribcage and skull in two as it shifts heavily downwards. The various broken bone fragments pierce her organs.

As more books are added, the plank just sags lower and lower. Fukawa was already dead at this point, but more Monokumas came and more weight is added. Finally, the fiftieth round of Monokuma's arrive. With the use of a tall ladder, they add their final wave of books.

Fukawa's body was completely crushed under the weight of thousands and thousands of books, leaving her corpse completely disfigured and unrecognizable.

**Execution Over!**


	23. Act 3, Chapter 7

As soon as Fukawa dies, as soon as the last execution finished, all of the restraints on Naegi vanish without a trace. The luckster bends his neck down and clenches both of his hands, ignoring the excruciating pain that flared up on his right. Pitiful sobs rip out of him and made his heart feel a searing ache that was worse than the grip of death. It felt like his insides were being torn to shreds. Each and every execution, even the ones he had seen before, had sent another icy knife stabbing through his lungs. Burning tears streamed down his cheeks, leaving behind trails of acid. He felt like his soul was completely frozen, but at the same time, was on fire.

"Makoto…" Junko puts a hand on his cheek and turns his face towards him. Her piercing blue eyes looked inside of him, searching for more despair. More, even more despair. She found it. Her sharp blue eyes suddenly cloud over as she realises what she was seeing. Naegi, in front of her, really in despair. Really, truly, in despair. Grinning crookedly, Junko grabs both of Naegi's hands and traps them in a death grip. Her face was a sickening combination of triumph, joy, lust, and of course, despair.

Naegi's eyes bulged with terror as Junko suddenly leans forward and sweetly kisses him on the lips. The contact was agonizing - her lips on his felt like molten lava. It was horrible. Naegi would have preferred to be stabbed through the neck by her nails again, rather than kiss her for another second. But he couldn't resist, would not resist. For if he were to resist, her, then what would happen? Junk was a goddess. She was his terrible goddess, perhaps more akin to a devil, but not quite. He had angered her and now he had his own special hell. What was worse than this? Naegi couldn't even fathom, but he was sure that Junko could have made him feel worse.

He couldn't anger the goddess any more. So he wouldn't resist. It was better not to resist. Whatever she did to him, it was fine. It was completely okay, one hundred percent. So even though _her _lips was lava, and _his _lips was ice, he didn't fight. He was tired of fighting anyway. Anytime he tried to fight, he quickly found that his efforts were futile.

Nothing he did mattered, right?

Finally, after an eternity, Junko leans back from Naegi. "That was your graduation gift." Junko whispers, giving him a sly wink.

"Auuagh." Naegi moans deliriously, drunk with despair. His eyes rolled wildly in his sockets as images of his dead classmates flashed in his eyes. He suddenly wished that he could join them. Naegi wanted to die. It would have been so good, so _fresh _to die.

Junko suddenly pulls out a walkie-talkie and begins to talk into it. Just a few seconds ago, her face was glowing with child-like excitement, and her cheeks had gone rosy-red. But now, her face was tense with anticipation, like a student about to receive their test results back. Naegi didn't know who she was talking to - he didn't even know what she was _saying_. Her words just seemed to pass right through him. This didn't bother him though - not a single thought in his mind was curious about why Junko was suddenly acting so seriously.

After a few minutes, Junko's lips pull back in a tight scowl of disappointment. But as her eyes touch Naegi's, her face suddenly brightens up again. Grinning in delight, she tosses the walkie-talkie to the floor and says something to him as she pulls him up from his chair by his hands. Naegi barely felt the shattered bones in his hand anymore - it was just another layer of pain on top of the mile-high stack of agony being pressed against his body.

She took one of her hair-clips out - the one of a white bear. She presses the hair-clip onto Naegi's open palm and tells him something. Naegi didn't know what. He heard what she was saying, but he couldn't understand her at all. So he ended up looking into her eyes with a stupid, dazed look.

Frowning, Junko talks some more while pointing at the nose of her hair clip. When Naegi didn't respond to that, Junko rolled her eyes and drew her arm back. With a single smooth motion, she slaps Naegi across the face with so much power that black stars exploded in Naegi's vision. It was a wonder that he didn't pass out right then and there.

His ears rang so loudly that he could barely hear her next words. But he did hear them, and this time, he understood perfectly.

"Let's try this again, kay? When we open the door, the guns will automatically deactivate - I know that, and those Foundation guys know that. Soon, there's gonna be a _ton _of those Foundation guys who will want to arrest me. But _we_ don't want that, do we?"

Numbly, Naegi shook his head.

"So on my signal, you're gonna press the nose of that lil' old cutie there." Junko says, pointing at the hair pin once more. "That'll re-activate the turrets on our front gates! They're gonna be facing them, not us. So you won't have to worry about being turned into swiss cheese. Isn't that wonderful?"

Kill.

She wanted him to kill again. This time, kill a bunch of people who wanted nothing more than to better the world. People who wanted nothing more than to rid the world of despair.

"Junko." Naegi whimpers. "Don't make me kill. Not again. Never again. No murder. Please."

"Awwwww, how cute!" Junko squeals, patting Naegi on the head. "He's _begging_! It's sad, but I'm gonna have to put my foot down here, buddy. You're gonna listen to Auntie Junko, kay? On my signal, press the button. I'm gonna wave. Wave, okay?"

Naegi nods again. He wanted to ask what would happen if they decided to shoot him, but ultimately decided that asking that would be stupid of him.

"Good! Let's go!"

* * *

Naegi stares forward as the giant locked door splits into two. They pull outwards, revealing the blinding white light of the outside world. The shriveled thing that used to be his soul cried out weakly, hoping that against all odds, there would be no one there, that there would be no more victims.

"Freeze. Junko Enoshima, put your hands up and don't make any movements."

Several men wearing vests and ballistic helmets point several rifles at Junko. They were about ten or so meters away. While Naegi couldn't see their faces all too well, he could still make out the disgusted grimaces of each of them. Behind the group, there was a single helicopter with the letters 'FF' on it.

Of course, it was exactly as Junko said. It was exactly as she said because she was always right. And now he had to press the button. He had to watch more innocent people die because of him. He _had _to.

Junko, looking completely unphased by the guns being pointed at her, puts her hands up, waving them in the air. "Heyyyy! I'm complying!"

"I can't." Naegi mumbles. His eyes darted from the soldiers to the white pin in his hand. He kept looking back and forth, back and forth. A dull throbbing had started to appear in his forehead. "I can't."

The fashionista turns her head slightly towards Naegi. While she was still grinning in a care-free manner, her eyes spoke a different story. They blazed blue, and Naegi knew at once that if he didn't kill them, then Junko would make him feel worse. She would make him feel even more despair. _Somehow_.

But still.

"I cant." Naegi says, now in a normal voice. "I can't, can't. I can't."

The soldiers look at each other uneasily. They had obviously not expected for Junko to surrender so easily. At a snail's pace, they started marching towards Junko with their guns trained on her head. All of their attention was directed towards her.

_"__Makoto…" _Junko whispers through smiling teeth. Her hands were still waving in the air.

"I can't!" Naegi falls to his knees and starts screaming. The dull throbbing had evolved to a more sinister agony and had spread throughout his entire head. Naegi stared up at Junko with crying eyes, the cords on his neck tightly knotting up. _"__I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't!"_

The screaming had caused the soldiers to stop in their tracks. They shifted their glances to Naegi while still keeping the guns trained on Junko. At any moment, they could notice the white hair pin in Naegi's hand.

Junko hawks, then spits on the floor in front of Naegi. "You really want to do this to me, Makoto?" She asks in a venomous tone.

_"__I CAN'T!" _Naegi screams. One of the soldiers tsked and quickly said something to the other in a hushed whisper. His eyes were on the white pin on Naegi's hand. The soldier he talked to nodded and said something to the others.

After a few seconds, they turn their attention back to Junko.

"I CAN'T!" Naegi screams once more. His vocal cords felt like they were being shredded. Tears ran down his face like a waterfall, dampening the ground beneath him.

One of the soldiers squeezes his finger on the trigger.

Naegi pushed the button.

He could.

_*BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG*_

A sudden barrage of bullets fly through the air. All at once, the Future Foundation soldiers drop like flies as they get pumped full of lead. There wasn't even a second of delay between Naegi pressing the button and them getting shot. It happened all too quickly. There weren't even any screams - they all died in silence.

"Well, that takes care of that!" Junko says happily. She hadn't even flinched from the deafening cracks from the turrets. She grabs the hair clip from Naegi's hand and puts it back in her hair, humming a small tune as she did so. Once it clipped back onto its proper place, Junko bends down and places a comforting hand on his shoulder.

The luckster was still kneeling on the ground. The scene of the soldiers dropping to the floor replayed in his mind over and over again. Only this time, they were his friends. They were his classmates. He watches himself shoot them without mercy. Their blood splattered onto the ground over and over and over again.

"Well Makoto, you pulled through in the end." Junko says, giving him an approving nod. She moves her hand from his shoulder to his broken hand and forcibly pulls him up. "It was close, but ya did it."

Naegi lets out a loose giggle. _Yeah, close. Close to your death. Close to my death. But it wouldn't have mattered, oh no. It wouldn't have mattered at all. So why do I care? I wish I were dead. I wish I could die. I wish I didn't care. It was so close. I was close._

Pulling Naegi along, Junko begins to skip over to the helicopter. There were a few bullet holes in it, but otherwise seemed relatively undamaged. In it, there was another Future Foundation soldier - except this one seemed less professional than the others. He wasn't wearing a ballistic helmet like the others, and was fumbling with a pistol in his side holster.

Junko jumps into the copilot's seat and takes the gun from his holster seamlessly. The pilot freezes and slowly looks up at Junko. There was unmistakable fright and surprise in his eyes. For some reason, his terror-stricken face seemed to strike a chord in Naegi.

Then, he realized.

His face was practically a carbon copy of the face he had seen all the way back when he had first stabbed Togami. His expression was completely filled with terror, and had a decent amount of surprise and confusion mixed in. To top it all off, the pilot had blonde hair and was wearing a pair of glasses. Besides that, he didn't look much like Togami - he seemed to be more built and rugged. But the semblance was there - to Naegi, it was like he was staring at the real Togami.

His first victim.

The one he purposefully and directly killed.

The death he used to kill all of his other classmates.

Junko grabs Naegi's good hand and opens it, flat palmed. She placed the gun in his hand and pointed at the pilot. She had a knowing smile on her face.

_Kill him. Again? Again? Again?_

_Kill him again?_

_Nonononono._

"Nononono, please no." Naegi moans, shaking his head fiercely. At the same time, he tightened the grip around the gun and raised it to the pilots face. The pilot had gone completely pale and could only stare at the barrel of the pistol, mouth opening and closing like a fish. "Don't make me do this. When will I be done, Junko? Please, don't make me _do _this."

"Last one, I promise." Junko says softly. She places her hand on top of Naegi's to steady his trembling hand. "This is so that you can feel despair, Naegi. I want you to feel despair."

Naegi turns to her. "J-Junko, come on. I've despaired, okay? I'm in despair. I-I know that I used to show hope all the time, but I can't help it, that's just how I was. I never had really felt despair when I went through your game the first time. I don't know why, but I'm in despair now, in as much despair as anyone else in this world. I used to show hope, I know that, it was just my way of, you know, surviving the killing game. It wasn't good to despair in the killing game, right? But Junko, I know better now. I'm despairing, you know that, right? I'M IN DESPAIR! I-I killed my classmates because of my despair, so that's good, right? Please Junko, I'm being good, right? I'm being good, aren't I? I don't need to do this anymore, right? I never meant to bring hope into your plan of despair, that wasn't the idea at all. I'm despairing, you know that right? Junko, you know that, right? I'm in despair ri-"

_*SLAP*_

Junko stares at him with blank eyes.

…

Naegi pulls the trigger.

_*BANG*_

The pilot falls onto the helicopter's dashboard, now with a gaping hole in the middle of his forehead. Junko's blank expression suddenly turns into one of joy. She sighs happily and pulls the corpse out of the helicopter, spilling pink blood everywhere. She dumps his body to the ground without a second glance before moving over to the pilots seat. She rips a fistful of her skirt out and uses it to wipe some of the blood away from the dashboard.

"Okay Makoto, let's go!"

Naegi silently pulls himself up and into the co-pilot's seat, closing the door behind him. Junko begins to fiddle with the dashboard. The helicopter's rotors begin to spin.

"You know Makoto, you've been _soooooo _cooperative today. I think that maybe I should give you some sort of reward!" Junko turns to him with a big smile. "What do you think?"

Naegi was staring at his hand. Even more tears poured down his eyes freely as he gazed at the gun in his hands in a sort of dazed wonder. Suddenly, he lifted his broken hand up and opened his mouth as wide as he could. He placed his hand between his teeth and bit down, _hard_. Pink blood gushed out in spurts as his teeth tore through his skin.

"Ah, I've been kind of a bitch to you today, haven't I?" Junko frowns and places her hand on Naegi's arm before gently pulling it away from his blood-stained mouth. Gingerly, she takes off her tie and tightly wraps it around the teeth marks on his hand in a sort of makeshift bandage. "Y'know Makoto, I've always hated your hope. But at the same time, I kind of liked it. Despite all of the things I've done to you, I still thought of you as a friend. That was part of what motivated me to show you how despair is such a _wonderful _thing. Your friendship."

Naegi doesn't even look at her, instead opting to continue staring at his gun. Junko slowly placed her hand over his and took the gun away from him. Naegi kept staring, instead now at the empty space in his hand where the gun used to be.

"So, Kamukura informed me that we have the better part of a whole month to spend together! The better part of a month before you have to be sent away again." Junko leans her face into Naegi's ear and whispers: _"__The better part of a month we get to be together."_

Naegi doesn't respond.

Not dissuaded in the least, Junko gets up from her seat and presses something on the dashboard. The helicopter's rotors stop spinning. Without another word, she pulls Naegi out from his seat and leads him away from the cockpit and into the back seats.

She places him on one of the seats before sitting down right next to him. Tenderly, she begins to kiss Naegi's neck. Her hand began to stray downwards. She whispers again.

_"__Let's have some fun together. Think of it as a vacation, okay?"_


	24. Act 3, Chapter 8

The next few weeks were nothing but a blur to Naegi. Despair seemed to suffocate him, enveloping his entire mind and body. You could practically see it sticking to him like some sort of dirty cloud. The idea of dying began to look more and more enticing to Naegi. During the few moments where he was lucid enough to think coherently, he began to wonder if he should just kill himself. But he decided that it would be useless to try anyway.

But even so, death continued to sway on a string in front of Naegi's eyes, just far enough so that he couldn't reach it, like a carrot on a string. If he were to die, if here were to no longer exist, he wouldn't feel the despair. He wouldn't feel the excruciating pain that filled his body like hot lead. He could just vanish from the world and be free from everything. But that was impossible.

Death was just a dream.

* * *

"Ah, Makoto." Junko sighs happily as she looks up from Naegi's lap. She was lying down with the back of her head resting comfortably on Naegi's legs. The two were sitting on the base of a large stone fountain. Once upon a time, luscious green grass and trees surrounded the area. But now, most of the plants were dead, nothing more than ashes. The few remaining trees left were nothing more than skeletons with a couple dozen red leaves on them. Off in the distance, Hope's Peak Academy jutted out from a cluster of dead trees, like a beacon amidst the sea of despair and chaos. "Kamkura talked to me this morning. Apparently, you only have one day left with me… isn't that just sad?"

Naegi nods almost imperceptibly. His hand move back and forth in a robotic fashion as he stroked her hair softly. It was his broken hand. Junko's tie was still wrapped around it, now covered in dirt and blood. He hadn't taken it off once since Junko used it to stop his bleeding. Tsumuki had offered to tend to it when Naegi had first met her, but he refused to let her touch him.

"We did a lot of fun things together." Junko says, reaching up with one of her hands to touch Naegi's chin. There was a hint of a stubble growing on it. "You used to act really melodramatic when I asked you to kill. Remember, back when we first got out of that cruddy old school? You were crying like a baby!"

Naegi nods again.

"But now, you're just a killing machine, aren't you?" Junko asks. "I would recognize those moves anywhere - you definitely learned some stuff from my sister. By the way, I'm sure that you know this by now, but she was like, madly in love with you. Pretty poetic that you ended up being responsible for her execution, huh?"

Naegi blinks. Then, small lines of tears start to trail down his eyes. Within the span of a second, Ikusaba's execution plays out in his mind like a recording. He saw her dance around the bullets beautifully for longer then what was possible. Then, he saw her finally falter. The turrets tore her apart so fast that she was gone in a blink. "That was one of the worst ones to witness. You turned your own sister into a pile of blood and bones. I hate you for that, you know."

"Oh?" Junko smiles.

"No." Naegi hisses in pain as his head throbbed dully. The recording in his mind fades off to darkness. As abruptly as they began, the tears stopped and quickly dried. "No, I love you Junko. I love you, I love you, I love you. You're the only thing I have. But I still hate you."

Junko sighs again, but this time, there was a hint of sadness in her tone. Not despair - _real _sadness. Hearing this caused Naegi to jolt a little - his eyes flicked down to Junko for just a millisecond. Then, Naegi turns his gaze back to the figure of Hope's Peak Academy in the distance.

"I really wish that Kamukura would turn off that fuckinn' time machine." Junko pouts. "But apparently, despair is too _boring _for him. So he's just gonna leave the dang thing on! Can you believe it?"

"I've never met him." Naegi says.

"I mean, what does he want from me?" Junko asks, ignoring Naegi's comment. "I took the most hopeful guy out there and turned him into a crazy despair junkie! I'm lucky to have witnessed such beautiful despair from you… I mean, I got to see you at your prime! Imagine how boring it would be if I was seeing you at your, like, five millionth time loop. You probably would just be brain dead at that point."

Suddenly, Junko sits up from Naegi's lap. She pistons her arms up in a stretch, yawning as she did so. Then, she shot a sideways glance at Naegi who was still staring at Hope's Peak Academy blankly. "Say, I actually haven't asked you this yet! How many times _did _you go through this whole thing? Do you even know?"

"Nope." Naegi deadpans.

"Hmmmm." Junko puts a finger to her chin. "If I had to guess, I would say a thousand. How about you, Makoto? What's-"

_"__I don't know! I really don't know!"_

_"__TELL ME!" Monokuma's face gets red as steam pours out of his ears. "I wanna know!"_

_"__STOP IT!" Naegi shouts, running past Monokuma, towards his door. But before he could open it, two more Monokuma's pop up, blocking his path. _

_"__Look, I'm just curious, 'kay?" One of the Monokumas says. His voice changer was off, so it was actually Junko's voice coming out of the bear. "I wanna know how long it took to break your spirit."_

"-your guess?"

…

"Maybe ten thousand." Naegi says after a short pause. Suddenly his face grew agitated and his scalp prickled itchily. "Oh god, ten thousand. You made me do this ten thousand times. Why do you hate me so much, Junko? I really want to know. Why do you hate me, Junko?"

"I don't hate you!" Junko grins and kisses Naegi on the cheek. Naegi could have sworn that her touch left a branded mark on him. His cheek felt like it had gone up in flames. Out of nowhere, a crown pops up on top of Junko's head. She stands up from the fountain and takes a dramatic pose with both of her fists on her hips. "You are my dear prince, Makoto! I _love _you! Aren't you glad that I took the effort to take you away from that _dreadful_, _icky_, hope?"

"Y-Yes. No. I don't know." All at once, Naegi begins to sob heavily. He covers his face with his hands and lets out a howl of agony. After around thirty seconds, his cries abruptly stopped. He looked up from his hands and meets Junko's eyes. "Okay, yes. I'm glad. Thank you, Junko. I love you."

"Good. That's good, Makoto. That's really good."

* * *

**The 157th Killing Game.**

Naegi doesn't move from his desk. When Monokuma's announcement came to summon all of the students to the gym, he still doesn't move. Thirty minutes later, Ikusaba walks into the room. She was posing as Junko. With an irritated expression, she walked over to Naegi's desk and places a hand on it.

Slowly, Naegi looks up at her.

"What are you doing?" Ikusaba asks, crossing her arms as she scowled down at him in contempt. "Why are you just sitting here?"

"I don't know."

Ikusaba rolls her eyes. "Didn't you hear that weird announcement? Get your ass over to the gym, ahoge boy! You're keeping all of us waiting h-"

Quicker than anyone could have reacted, Naegi pistons his arm forward and reaches for her concealed pocket.

Quicker than Ikusaba could have reacted, Naegi grabs her combat knife and takes it out.

Quicker than Naegi himself could have reacted, Naegi stabs Ikusaba in the stomach.

…

"Oh." Was all Ikusaba could say. She looked down at her stomach. Already, a circle of pink blood was widening around it, staining her clothes. Some drops fell down to the floor, but not that much. She closes her eyes for a second, and then opens them. Nothing had changed. The knife was still embedded in her stomach and blood was still seeping out. "Oh."

Naegi's grip on the knife tightened. Then, it loosened. He brings his hand back to his body and stared at Ikusaba.

For what seemed like an eternity, Naegi and Ikusaba just stare at each other. Then finally, Ikusaba collapsed onto the floor. The pain had finally come. Her stomach seemed like an ocean of lava. Some part of her instincts kicked in and she tried to take out a hidden pistol so that she could defend herself. With superhuman effort, she brings out her gun. That was as far as she got before her arms failed her. Suddenly, she felt like she needed to throw up. Her vision doubled as nausea overtook her.

Slowly, Naegi stood up from his desk and walked over to Ikusaba. His face was almost serene.

"I don't know why you put up with your sister." Naegi says as he kneels down. He grabs both of Ikusaba's arms and drags her over to a wall before positioning her in a sitting position. Ikusaba nearly fainted from being moved, but somehow managed to stay conscious. "Is it because you love her? Do you love Junko?"

Ikusaba didn't even have the strength to give an answer. She just sat there and stared at him with questioning eyes. There was no anger or terror in her eyes. Just confusion. If she was able to talk at that moment, she probably would have only asked one question: _Why?_

Naegi places both of his hands on Ikusaba's shoulders. Leaning in, he tenderly kisses her on the forehead before taking her gun away. He also takes a cartridge of bullets from her. "Don't worry. She wants despair. I'll try to give it to her."

Without another word, Naegi stands up and leaves the classroom. He takes a shuddering breath before closing the door behind him.

Ikusaba bleeds out two minutes later, with one hand resting over her forehead.

* * *

"Oh my god! Finally! What the hell took you so long?" The high pitched voice of Monokuma fills the gym as soon as Naegi enters. The bear was sitting on top of a podium, and his face was completely red. There was even steam shooting out from his ears.

"Unacceptable!" Ishimaru roars, pointing at Naegi rudely. "To show such extensive tardiness in a school setting is unacceptable!"

"Sorry." Naegi says flatly.

"Ah, what a delinquent!" Monokuma hops up and presses both of his paws together. "Well, I _would _get on with my explanation, but I've noticed that blondie isn't with ya! Where did she go? Everyone needs to be present for the opening ceremony!"

"Dead." Naegi deadpans. With zero hesitation, he takes out the pistol he stole from Ikusaba and shoots each and every one of his classmates. Each bullet had one target - each student's leg. The gun had just enough ammo so that he didn't need to reload. Faster than the blink of an eye, everyone in the room (excluding Monokuma) falls to the floor. Some of them cried out in pain. The rest were shocked into silence.

Naegi quickly reloads and shoots each of his classmates once more - this time, he shot their opposite legs. This time, everyone screamed out in pain. Their cries of agony echoed throughout the gym like a chorus straight from hell.

"H-HEY!" Monokuma screams and raises his paws in the air. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! Take this any further and I'll have to punish you! Trust me, you don't want that!"

Naegi walks over to Fukawa. She was passed out cold - whether it was from pain or the sight of blood, Naegi didn't know. But that didn't matter to him now. He puts the rest of his bullets into his gun and shoots her square in the forehead. Her body jolted a little before going completely limp. Naegi puts his hand under her skirt and takes out one of her Geno-scissors.

"How?" Ishimaru lets out a strangled gasp as he places a hand on one of his wounds. He stares down at his bloodied uniform with a look of utter disbelief. "H-How could something like this happen?"

"Alright then!" Monokuma hops off from the podium. Sharp claws shoot out from his paws. "Don't say that I didn't warn you!"

"Junko." Naegi says. "If you try to attack me, I'll just kill as many of these guys as I can. Then, I'll kill myself. Then, I'll do everything over again. Wouldn't that be boring?"

"Oh, come on!" Monokuma snarls. "I was looking forward to this whole killing game thing! You know how much preparation went into this? This was gonna be like, the climax of my plan! I even had cameras livestreaming this!"

"I've just been shot!" Yamada moans, staring incredulously at the growing puddle of blood around his legs. "Why?! How?! I've just been shot!"

"I… will not allow this to happen!" Sweat pours down Ogami's face like a waterfall as she slowly rises from the floor. Despite the overwhelming agony coursing through her, she manages to stand up straight. But before she could get further than that, Naegi runs up to her at a blazing speed. With all of the force he could muster, he slams his foot on her right knee. Ogami roars in pain and crumples to the floor.

"Ogami…" Naegi looks down at her and sighs sadly. Faster than a blink, he plunges the pair of Geno-scissors through her neck, burying it up to the handle. After a tense second, Naegi pulls the scissors out. Blood flows out from her arteries like a drinking fountain, completely drenching Naegi's clothes. Somewhere in the distant background, he could hear a few screams of terror. Asahina was undoubtedly one of them.

As Naegi stares down at the dying Ogami, his body suddenly starts shivering violently. Memories flood his brain. Memories of Ogami teaching him in the way of martial arts. Memories of Ogami pouring her soul out to him about Kenshiro. Memories of her tragic suicide during the killing game.

Suddenly, Naegi felt very dizzy. He turned around and looked at the rest of his classmates, making eye contact with each and every one of them. He soaked up their pain, their shock, their fear… He let himself take it all in.

Blinking back tears, Naegi slowly walked over to Asahina.

She was the one nearest to Ogami's corpse.

* * *

Naegi silently cries as he sits on the floor, tightly hugging Maizono as she died in his arms. On the floor next to them, the pair of Geno-scissors lay, glistening evilly in a puddle of blood. He didn't even know how many times he stabbed her with those damned scissors - probably at least a dozen times. Naegi's clothes were completely soaked in pink blood. The aroma of coppery sweetness clung to him like a web. His hands were nothing more than sticky gloves of gore.

His heart felt as heavy as lead. It sunk all the way down to his stomach and seemed to be weighing his whole body down. There were moments where Naegi came extremely close to just killing himself before he progressed any further. He figured that slitting his own throat would be less painful then stabbing his friends like this. But he always stopped himself at the last moment. If he killed himself, then he would have to restart again.

After a minute, Naegi realizes that he couldn't feel Maizono's heart beating anymore. Naegi pushes her lifeless corpse away from him and lies down on the floor, face up. The blood soaking into the back of his head was lukewarm, but felt icy cold. Naegi felt like he could close his eyes and never wake up. It was a hypothesis he desperately wanted to test (he was completely drained of energy), but he still had one more person to go through.

Shakily, Naegi pushes himself up from the floor and staggers over to Kirigiri, who was resting on the other side of the gym. On the way, he walks past Monokuma. He had done nothing but stare at Naegi with disgusting interest and occasionally giggling in amusement.

Kirigiri stares at Naegi with a fierce gaze. Though her face was as pale as a ghost, her eyes seemed to be blazing. She had tried to escape multiple times - Naegi always managed to stop her before she could get anywhere. Internally, he was cheering her on. He wished with his entire being that Kirigiri would somehow escape from him - hell, he even wanted for her to somehow fight back. She hadn't made any moves toward Fukawa's corpse, though she did glance at it with a vague sort of interest a few times. If she managed to get there without him noticing, she could have gotten a weapon in the form of another pair of Geno-scissors.

_Please. _Naegi thinks desperately as he marches towards Kirigiri. _I hope that you managed to get a weapon. I hope that you're hiding it from me, and I hope that you're planning to kill me._

_And I hope that you do kill me. I hope that you kill me slowly. I deserve it. And I want it, I do._

_It's all I really want._

Naegi stops right in front of Kirigiri. He didn't have any sort of weapon on him, save for his empty pistol. He had unloaded all of the bullets when it became clear that Monokuma wouldn't interfere. Whether or not Kirigiri had a way to defend herself would become clear soon.

"Hey, Kirigiri." Naegi kneels down and stares straight at the detective. Tears were still pouring down his blood-streaked face at a slow, but steady rate. Despite this, his face was still cold and calm. Of course, this was just a mask. On the inside, he felt like the literal personification of hell. It took an ungodly amount of effort for him to even talk normally. At any moment, Naegi could have probably pass out. "How are you?"

"..." Kirigiri stares at him unblinkingly. Despite her still-bleeding wounds, there was no pain in her expression.

"You know, you're kind of the reason why we're in the mess." Naegi says, gesturing to the room around him. Everywhere you looked, there was either a corpse or blood within view. The only place left untouched was the platform that Monokuma's podium sat on. "I mean, I know that you're not _entirely _to blame - in fact, I'm the one who should take most of it. You were protesting against our plan until the very end."

"..."

"Still though, I can't help but feel a little bitter." Naegi looks down from Kirigiri's eyes. "You're the one who put the idea in my head. And anyway, throughout each and every killing game, you never hesitated to use me as a shield. You even sent me to that secret room with all of the files, knowing fully well that the mastermind might have attacked me."

Naegi gives her a small grin. "By the way, I _did _follow your orders most of the time. Thinking back on it, I probably could have just lied and just told you that I got attacked by the mastermind. Kind of stupid of me to let myself get clobbered by Junko every time, huh?"

"... You're insane." Kirigiri finally says. Her voice was filled to the brim with icy cold anger and venom. "You're completely insane."

Naegi barks a short, humorless laugh. "Yes. I really am insane. I went insane a _long _time ago. That's why I'm forcing myself to kill all of my friends! I really don't want to do this, trust me. But it's almost like I'm watching my own body move on its own."

With no warning, Naegi suddenly punches Kirigiri square in the face. Kirigiri's head jerks back as she grunts in pain. Blood starts trickling down her nose. Naegi looks down at his own unbelievingly, just as surprised as Kirigiri was.

Naegi puts his trembling hand up to Kirigiri and gently carreses her cheeks. She would have flinched back in dusgust, if she weren't so stunned from his punch. Black stars filled her vision, and the room seemed to spin. Even though he was right in front of him, she couldn't seem to focus on Naegi. "I-I'm wasn't s-strong enough. Not enough f-for t-this. I wasn't strong. I'm so sorry, K-Kirigiri. I w-wish that you could have k-killed me. Somehow."

Before the detective could let out another word, Naegi wrapped his hands around her throat and began to squeeze. _Hard_. He put every single ounce of effort left in him into strangling her. He didn't falter, not even when her eyes rolled up to the back of her head, or when her pale face grew even paler. He felt her hands gripping tighly on his arms, trying to pull them away. But her efforts made no difference. Soon, she stopped moving, and only then did Naegi let go of her throat.

Naegi stands up and turns back to look at Monokuma. But instead of a monochrome bear, Junko Enoshima was watching him. She was standing in the middle of the gym with crossed arms and was staring at him curiously. One of her hands carried the remote that unlocked the front doors. By her feet, Toko Fukawa lay dead.

With about as much clarity as a drunkard, Naegi staggers over to Junko. He throws his pistol on the ground. It clattered next to Celeste's body. The gambler had lost both of her eyes - Naegi had stabbed both of them out. Naegi had to take a break after that one - he feared that if he didn't stop for a moment, then he would breakdown and wouldn't be able to continue.

"Wow, Naegi." Junko says, smiling softly. "Just… wow."

Naegi ignores her and bends down to Fukawa's body. He takes out another pair of scissors and stabs Junko in the chest. It pierced her heart with deadly accuracy, not even grazing her ribs. Junko collapses on the floor, landing on top of Fukawa. More blood gushes out of their wounds. Naegi leans down and tenderly kisses her on the lips. He gently unclips her white hair pin and pries the remote out of her hands.

Without looking back, Naegi walks out of the gym.

Three minutes later, a barrage of bullets rain upon the Future Foundation soldiers waiting in front of the school.

Five minutes later, a pink corpse walks out of Hope's Peak Academy.


	25. Act 3, Chapter 9

Makoto Naegi was sleeping.

This was no small feat. He was sleeping on the cold, hard ground just outside of Hope's Peak Academy. Several small pebbles jabbed into his back and the air smelled like gasoline. The luckster's body was completely covered in dried or drying blood, which also contributed to the ungodly stench in the air. Some of the blood was sticking to his skin in dry flakes. Just behind him, there were several bodies belonging to the Future Foundation. Naegi figured that they were sleeping too, and that they would wake up in about a month.

Naegi was sleeping. For the first time in a while, he felt quite comfortable.

He had no dreams.

* * *

"Wake up."

A cold voice suddenly jolts Naegi out of his slumber. It was quiet, not much more than a whisper, but it still managed to wake him up in an instant, somehow dragging his mind out of the mute void it had been resting in. Blinking sluggishly, Naegi finds himself face to face with a tall man in a suit standing over him. He had glistening red eyes that seemed to fit in with the crimson sky above him. They shined with intelligence, and Naegi was suddenly sure that this man knew everything about him. Naegi was sure that if he stared at him for too long, then he would be hypnotized by those eyes, somehow soft and hard at the same time.

Probably the most noticeable thing about him, however, was his hair. They were as dark as the ground Naegi was sleeping in and looked about as soft as silk. Moreover, it was _ long_. It reached down to his ankles and seemed as thick as tree branches.

With gargantuan effort, Naegi stands up. He stares at the man with a sort of frightful confusion, like a child lost in a shopping mall. After a few seconds, Naegi manages to open his mouth.

"Are you Kamukura?" Naegi asks, despite knowing fully well that this person really was without a doubt, Izuru Kamukura. Junko had never described him, nor has Naegi ever seen him, but he knew that it was him all the same. His voice was dry and raspy - his throat hadn't quite recovered from all of the screaming he put it through. It felt like with each word he spoke, a nail was being driven through his adam's apple. "I-Izuru Kamukura?"

"Yes." Kamukura says simply. "Do you know what I'm here for?"

Naegi shakes his head.

"Then I must be correct in assuming that this is the first time that you're experiencing this scenario."

Naegi nods.

"Are you able to walk?"

Naegi nods once more.

Without another word, Kamukura turns and starts walking away from him at a slow, consistent pace. Naegi takes a deep breath before staggering after him, one hand rubbing his throat as if that would somehow alleviate his pain. He looks back once, to gaze at the dead building that was once Hope's Peak Academy. Then, he turns back around and focuses on the figure of Izuru Kamukura.

He doesn't turn back again.

* * *

During their trek, Naegi collapsed twice. For the first time, he managed to pull himself up and start towards Kamukura before any more distance is put between them. The second time, Naegi couldn't get up. The hard dirt ground suddenly felt very soft and comfortable. Naegi could have slept there for the rest of the time he had if need be. He had figured out where Kamukura was taking him, but it suddenly didn't seem that important anymore. Nothing felt important anymore.

He thought that he would feel despair for his dead friends. He was certainly feeling despair back at the school, when he was slaughtering them like pigs. But now, he just felt empty. It was like someone stole his literal heart. Everything was cold. Not extremely, just cold enough for it to be slightly uncomfortable. Whenever Naegi thinks back to the people he killed, he didn't feel any sort of regret or despair. He felt nothing.

How much time passed while he lay limply on the ground? A minute? Ten minutes? An hour? Naegi had no idea. The entire concept of time was a foreign idea to the luckster. He felt disconnected from it. He felt that it didn't apply to him anymore, which may or may not have been accurate.

Right when Naegi was about to fall back asleep, he heard approaching footsteps coming from ahead of him. The footsteps became louder and louder until they finally stopped right in front of him. After some time, Naegi somehow finds the strength to get up. In front of him, of course, it was Kamukura. Who else would it be? If it were anyone else, they would have walked right past him and assume that Naegi was just another corpse in the endless sea of death. Or maybe they would start going through his pockets in hopes of salvaging some sort of supplies, like a vulture.

Wordlessly, Kamukura starts walking again. Naegi didn't move however, instead opting to stare at his back. He continued to stare at him as Kamukura walked off to the distance. His figure began to get smaller and smaller until finally, Naegi couldn't see him anymore. It soon became clear that Kamukura wasn't going to go back for him again.

Naegi finally breaks into a slow walk.

After a few seconds, he begins to run.

* * *

***A/N*** **Really short chapter. Why? Because the 'bad ending' is coming up soon.**


	26. Bonus Chapter

***A/N* Before the last chapter of Act 3, I'm going to stick in this bonus chapter. This chapter includes several scenes starring our poor time traveler, Makoto.**

**These stories aren't connected - each divider indicates a separate time loop. Nothing is in chronological order.**

**(P.S. There may be some unexplainable inconsistencies between these stories and the main fic. Nothing here should be taken too seriously. Just a warning.)**

* * *

"But to attack you, and steal everything in the room… " Kirigiri says with a hand on her chin. At this point, she almost seemed to be talking to herself rather than Naegi. "That must mean there was some unknown clue in there that could reveal the mastermind's identity."

"So you knew I was gonna get attacked." Naegi says with a hint of accusation in his voice. He couldn't help but always feel a bit bitter whenever he went through this scene. Kirigiri sent him off to be potentially _killed _\- and for what reason? To confirm a hunch. She didn't even show any sympathy towards him, and when he had refused to tell her about Ogami, she started treated him like literal scum.

This bitterness only escalated after Naegi tried Kirigiri's backup plan to overload the time machine. He _knew _it wasn't her fault that it failed, but it felt like adding insult to injury. Over and over again throughout the killing games, Naegi helped Kirigiri and tried to be her friend. Naegi was starting to see how Kirigiri was taking advantage of that. Even when she leapt down the trash chute for him, it was just to pay a debt.

"You're a boy - you can handle that kind of stuff. Besides, it's not like you're dead or anything. It's fine." Kirigiri says.

"Right. It's not like I'm dead or anything." A scowl grew on Naegi's face as irritation began to blossom in him. What gave her the right to use him like this? He wasn't a pawn for Kirigiri to use whenever she felt like it. "That makes it totally fine. Thanks, Kirigiri. Thanks a lot."

Kirigiri blinks, caught off guard. It seemed like Naegi's mood did a complete 180. Just a few minutes ago, he was acting like his normal, optimistic self. And now, he seemed… angry. The detective could scarcely believe it.

_Did this whole thing bother him that much? _Kirigiri thinks to herself as she tries to formulate a response. _Perhaps I pushed him a bit too far this time._

"Naegi, calm down." Kirigiri says in what she thought was a comforting tone. "The mastermind wouldn't kill you - it would mess up the entire killing game, and by extension, their plan. They wouldn't break their own rules like that. You were never in danger of being killed."

She thought that maybe this would be enough to placate him - the logic seemed sound enough. But instead, it only seemed to anger him even further.

"Oh? The mastermind wouldn't break their own rules? I'm sure _that's _true." Naegi says sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Junko had definitely broken a few rules during Ikusaba's class trial - it was more than plausible that she might have resorted to killing to keep her secrets safe. "You're saying that I wasn't in danger of being killed, huh? So you wouldn't _use _me in your plan if I was in danger of dying? Is that what you're saying?"

"Naegi-"

"Come on, answer me." Naegi interrupts. This time, there was a bit of hysteria mixed in with his anger. His eyes lit up like christmas lights - it looked like he had gone completely insane within the span of thirty seconds. In his head, his execution kept playing over and over again. He watched himself get executed as Kirigiri idled by. Of course, he doesn't actually die - but that detail seemed unimportant to Naegi at this moment. "Would you use me again? Even if I was in danger of being killed? Would you? _Would you?_"

…

"I…" Kirigiri forces herself to look directly into Naegi's blazing eyes. Rarely has she ever felt so _weak_. It was like Naegi's words were forming into a hammer and smashing her down onto the floor. "My _plan _won't include the deaths of anyone."

"That's not what I asked." Naegi shakes his head. "I'm asking if you would lead me to my death. Would you do that to save yourself? Or to find the 'truth' of this whole killing game?"

"Stop." Kirigiri says as forcefully as she could. "You have no right to question me like this. Were you not the one who said that we were supposed to be friends? That we were supposed to trust each other? You're being awfully hypocritical right now."

Naegi blinks dazedly, as if he had just been slapped. For a few seconds, he looked at Kirigiri uncomprehendingly. Then, he shifted his gaze to the floor, expression a mixture of shame and confusion. "R-Right. Sorry, I don't really know why I snapped like that. The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them."

Reluctantly, Kirigiri nods. She hadn't expected for Naegi to back down so quickly. But then again, she didn't expect Naegi to get angry at her in the first place. It seemed like the luckster was more stressed than he let on. Kirigiri made sure to take a mental note of that. "Just don't let something like that happen again."

"Yeah..." Naegi winces as his execution plays out one more time. It was almost like he was seeing two things at once - a vision of his execution, and Kirigiri.

"... I won't."

* * *

Once again, Naegi stands in front of the giant locked door. Once again, he is surrounded by his classmates. They all face the door, breaths caught in their throats. The tension in the air was noticeably thick, but also light at the same time, somehow.

Leon Kuwata, Mukuro Ikusaba, Sayaka Maizono, Chihiro Fujisaki, Mondo Owada, Ishimaru Kiyotaka, Hifumi Yamada, Celestia Ludenberg, Sakura Ogami… Naegi had even saved Junko Enoshima, the mastermind of the killing game.

He saved everyone, for what seemed like the millionth time.

Naegi grips the remote to the outside world in his hands tightly. Already, his body tingled with anticipation. Small electric jolts went up and down his spine. His heart was beating at a million miles an hour. At any time now, Ikusaba would appear. Then, he could _do it_. He could show them all of the despair he held. Normally Naegi would rather kill himself than do something like this. But Junko told him that it would be a good idea.

If Junko said it was a good idea, then it must be one. Even if it was a bad idea...

She can't be disobeyed.

For if he disobeyed her, who knew what sort of fresh new despair she would cook up for him?

Suddenly, someone steps up next to Naegi. It was Ikusaba - somehow, even in the quiet empty hall, no one had heard her walk up to them. Naegi had even been anticipating her, but was still caught off guard. Whether this was because of her own soldier talent, or because of his rampant thoughts, he didn't know - or care.

"Oh, Ikusaba! You're here!" Naegi smiles brightly as the Ultimate Soldier joins the 78th class.

Blushing slightly, Ikusaba nods. "I'm ready. Let's go."

"Yeah." Naegi wondered how Ikusaba would react to his betrayal? It would be the second time she would be betrayed by someone she loved. She really would have no one on her side anymore. Naegi already started to feel despair and guilt creep up on him as he thought about this.

Naegi turned to the rest of his classmates and held up the remote. He gave them an extremely fake smile. His hands were shaking.

"Naegi?" Kirigiri asks concernedly. "Is there something wrong?"

Instead of responding, Naegi directs his stare to Junko. She was still being restrained by Ogami, tied up and swung over her shoulder. Junko's eyes were practically sparkling with excitement. With about as much subtlety as a flamethrower, she mouthed to Naegi - _"Do it!"_

So Naegi presses the button.

Instead of the door unlocking, two Monokumas suddenly pop up from behind each of the students. The Monokumas force Naegi's classmates to their knees and tightly restrained them. The only exceptions were Ogami, Owada, and Ikusaba - _Ten_ Monokuma robots popped up to restrain them. Without skipping a beat, Junko jumps off of Ogami's shoulder. The ropes tied around her fall to her feet in coils.

The tremors that had formed in his hands started to spread to the rest of his body. He couldn't stop shivering. With what might have been a laugh, Naegi drops the remote on the floor; it clatters, echoing through the hallway.

"W-What the heck?! What's happening?!" Hagakure shouts, trying to wrestle his arms away from the Monokumas with all of his might. They didn't even budge; They stared down at the clairvoyant with lifeless eyes without speaking or moving. "Hey!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Owada screams. He thrashes violently, but fails to accomplish anything.

"Ugh!" Ogami's muscles ripple throughout her body as she tried to throw the Monokumas off of her body. The Monokumas holding her barely twitched.

"Puhuhuhu!" Junko giggles and taps Ogami on the nose with her pointer finger. "Don't bother trying! Each of these Monokumas can exert two hundred PSI! Not even _you _can break out of something like that!" Her smile was so wide that it was eerie.

"Naegi! What's going on here?!" Togami yells. His face was uncharacteristically red. Unlike everyone else, he didn't try to struggle against the Monokumas. Instead, he focused all of his attention on Naegi. "You and Enoshima are the only ones here not restrained. Are you a spy after all?"

"Wow! You sure jumped to that conclusion quick!" Junko chirps, skipping over to Naegi. She places a hand on his shoulder and kisses him on the cheek. Her eyes were literally glowing; It wouldn't have been that surprising if they had spontaneously combusted. "So much for having faith in Makoto, eh? But you're right - Makoto _is _working with me! Puhuhuhuhu!"

"No." Kirigiri shakes her head. Her face was even paler than usual. For the first time during the whole killing game, she seemed truly unsettled. Her eyes were hollow - you would think that you were staring into a corpse's gaze. "Naegi. You… really were a traitor?"

"Just get it over with, okay?" Naegi turns and crookedly grins at Junko. His body was still shaking violently. He wasn't sure if he could stand to look at his classmates any longer. His pleading eyes were wide and panicky, like an animal caught in a trap. "Come on, I did it. I did good, right? So one favor, please Junko. Please. Favor, one favor. Don't make me look. Oh, don't make me look."

"Ehhhh." Junko's wide smile suddenly turns to a frown. "Nah. That won't be fun. How about you do it? It'll be exciting, trust me."

"W-What?" Despite the blossoming despair in his eyes, Naegi's grin split further across his face. It suddenly seemed like the walls were closing in on him. "You want me to do it? To kill them?"

"Yup!" Junko nods and suddenly tosses a small knife at him. It looked like a kitchen knife, like the one Maizono always used, except considerably smaller. Reflexively, Naegi catches it with one hand. Unfortunately, he ended up catching it on the blade. Blood starts to slowly seep out of his hand as Naegi looks down at the knife in disbelief. He didn't feel the pain - not too much. It seemed far away, unimportant. "Go ahead. I'll be watching ya!"

"Naegi, what are you doing man?!" Kuwata screams. "Don't listen to that bitch! Come on!"

Naegi looks at Junko pleadingly. He didn't want to do this. Watching his friends die would have been more than enough, wouldn't it?

"Oh, come on Makoto." Junko smirks and rolls her eyes. "You must have seen your _friends _screw you over for their own benefit a bunch of times, right? How many times have they annoyed you? How many times did they act so _stupid _that you couldn't help but feel some sort of hatred for them? Think about it, Makoto. Think about it."

Think about it?

Naegi looks back down at his knife. After a few seconds, a small balloon rose up to the top of his mind, pushing away some of the despair clouding his head. This balloon was filled with thoughts about Togami. Naegi saw him, saw him a thousand times over.

_Togami never did anything good in the killing game, did he? _Naegi thinks. He begins to slowly walk to Togami. He was completely unaware of this - his eyes were blank and colorless. All he saw was Togami. Togami tampering with Fujisaki's murder. Togami acting like he was above everyone else. Togami treating the killing game as an actual game.

Could he think of a few good things Togami had done?

Maybe.

But he didn't think of anything good. He didn't _want _to think of anything good.

Blinking, Naegi suddenly pulls himself back into reality. He finds himself standing over Togami. He clenches the knife tightly and takes a deep breath.

"Naegi. Don't do it." Togami says. Though his voice was calm and commanding, his eyes were filled with a mix of anger and indignation. It was as if even in this situation, he didn't think that Naegi would kill him. Somewhere, in the back of his head, Naegi was still that unassuming boy who posed no threat. "I'm telling you right now. Don't do it."

"Ah, you're choosing Togami first?" Junko asks giddily. In her hands, she held a large Monokuma plushie. As she stared at Naegi with with wide, excited eyes, she squeezed the Monokuma so tightly that it looked like it might have just popped, like a balloon. "Good choice!"

For a few moments, Naegi just stood there and stared at Togami. The luckster's face was red and covered in sweat. If you looked at him, you might have thought that he had just participated in a hundred mile marathon. With every breath he took, his grip on the knife tightened.

Then, Naegi walked away from him. A collective sigh of relief rose from his classmates. Fukawa herself had been hyperventilating throughout the entire process. When Naegi walked away from him, Fukawa had let out one more breath before fainting. She didn't even fall to the ground - the Monokumas restraining her kept her at a kneeling position.

"Uhhhhhh, Makoto?" Junko frowns. She looked over her Monokuma plushie and stared at Naegi with questioning eyes. "What'cha doin?"

Ignoring her, Makoto instead looked to his right. There, Maizono sat. She looked up at him with wide, uncomprehending eyes. Small drops of tears trailed down her cheeks. Naegi's eyes glazed over again as he begins to think.

_Maizono. Sayaka Maizono. Betrayed me, and everyone else. But mostly me. Used me. USED me. She wanted to kill everyone for her dream. Her stupid idol dream. _

Did Naegi have a crush on her? Maybe, once upon a time, he did. Centuries ago. Things like that were unimportant right now.

The important thing was that she did it. She started the whole killing game.

And used him to do it.

So when Naegi kneeled down to meet her eyes and brought the knife up, he thought that he was going to stab her. He was completely sure of the fact that he was about to stab Sayaka Maizono to kickstart the carnage. It would have been fitting, wouldn't it? She was the reason why the killing game went along like it did. She would have deserved this.

So imagine Naegi's surprise when instead of driving the knife through her, he simply stood up and backed up away from her.

"Ohmygod." Maizono lets out a shuddering breath as she closed her eyes. Her life had literally flashed before her eyes. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Hey! Makoto!" Junko's slightly puzzled and disappointed face had morphed into one of pure anger. "You're givin' me blue balls here! What the hell?! Just kill someone already!"

Yes, but who? Where to start?

Kyoko?

_She also used me. _Naegi thinks to himself as he trains his gaze on the detective. She stared back with as much gusto that she could muster, which wasn't much. Her countenance remained pale and unsure. _Much more than Maizono. Even let me die. Left me to be killed. I was a puppet. She never gave me any hints, just left me alone. Except for when she wanted to use me as a shield. Only then._

Shaking his head, Naegi turns to look at the clairvoyant.

Hagakure?

_Idiot. Didn't hesitate for even a second to accuse me in the first class trial. Even tried to kill me once, outside of this game. Tried to kill me for money. Sell my organs on the black market, that's what he was trying to do. I doubt that anyone would miss this idiot._

Fukawa?

_Hates me, and everyone else - everyone else except for Togami. A literal serial killer. If I killed her, I could even say that it was vigilante justice. I could say that. It would help with the pain, right? It wouldn't hurt as much. She's unconscious - I could wait until her murderer persona wakes up. She would be helpless. I could avenge all of them._

Asahina?

_Tampered with Ogami's suicide. She would have seen all of us die just so that she could stick it to us. She would take all of us down with her, just because she was petty. Petty and stupid. Couldn't even see that Ogami's suicide note was fake. We could have all died because of her._

Ikusaba?

_Killed me. Killed me oh, so many times. She even helped Junko trap me here. Apparently, she has a crush on me. And yet, she kills me without a thought? And she helps to kill all of my friends? She's an emotionless robot. Yes, that's what she is. If I killed her, it would be like killing a rabid animal. It would be self-defense. If she were to be let free, I would die. Killing her would make all of us safer._

Celeste?

_Liar. Liar, liar, liar. What a stupid liar. Lied about her name, about her origins, and for what? Pride? Maybe. Or maybe she just thought that we were all below her, like Togami. Never hesitated to kill all of us. For a castle. All of us, in exchange for a castle. Betrayed Yamada too. She deserves to die. _

Owada?

_The most compulsive, violent person here. He knocked me out at the very first killing game, didn't he? All because I tried to help. Also caused the death of his own brother before all of this. Killed Fujisaki because he was jealous? Jealous of his strength? What an idiot._

Ishimaru?

_If he had his way, all of us would be mindless drones, working and studying for 16 hours a day. Does his damn best to impose his shitty rules onto all of us. Can't he wake up? Can't he see that none of his rules really matter? He acts strong and sound, but all it took was Owada's death for him to break. And once he broke, he somehow became even worse._

Kuwata?

_He's just as guilty as Maizono, isn't he? Maizono may have aimed her gun first, but Kuwata was the one who fired. Coulda just left her alone. Didn't need to break in, did he? Oh no, that wasn't needed. But he just had to. Why? We could have survived, all of us. Why did you do it, you hot-blooded fool?_

Yamada?

_Fat, creepy, weird, and one hell of a pushover. Open your eyes, glutton. Can't you see that Celeste doesn't care about you? Why are you letting yourself be used? How could someone be so dumb that they would choose to follow that gambler? Thanks to you, there were two victims. Two godforsaken victims._

There were only two people that Naegi couldn't think of a reason to hate - Fujisaki and Ogami. Ogami may have been the original traitor in the killing game, but she had somewhat redeemed herself at the end. Fujisaki was weak and cowardly, but never did anything to harm anyone.

So, kill the others? Kill the others and wrap himself in despair? So much despair that he didn't care that those two were innocent? He could have done it. Maybe. He could feel Junko's stare burn into the back of his neck. He couldn't find it in himself to turn around and meet her gaze - he might have snapped. So instead, he just traded stares with his classmates. In all of their eyes, he saw fear, anger, shock, outrage… but no despair.

In the contrary, there was hope. Hope that Naegi wouldn't kill them. Hope that Naegi would wake from his trance. Hope...

Insignificant.

Small.

Dim.

Hope.

…

Naegi raises grips his knife with both hands and holds it away from his body. The knife was turned around so that the blade was aimed towards him. Blood from his wounded hand seeps from the cracks within his fist and drips onto the floor, like a leaking faucet.

Can't do it.

He couldn't kill his friends like this, not for despair, no matter how many bad things they may have done. Because he knew that in the end, none of it mattered. Why should he be the one to punish their sins? He was the only one who even _knew _of their sins. This was the only time line in existence. None of them were guilty of anything - they had never committed their acts here.

This would be unjust, unfair. Did that translate into despair? Naegi didn't think so.

So what? Free them? Kill Junko instead? No, that was not possible. He was too far in. Naegi couldn't have done such a hopeful act. He was too far in. Killing Junko would be like killing himself. Trying to free his friends now was useless, impossible.

Naegi thrusts the knife inwards.

It pierces through his throat, cleanly shooting out the back of his neck. The blade cut through flesh and skin like hot butter. Blood spurts out from the entry wound - the center of his adams apple. Somewhere, in the distance, he could hear the screaming of his classmates, and the surprised laughter of Junko.

_This is the right choice._

Naegi closes his eyes and lets himself fall to the floor.

_The only choice._

* * *

Naegi looks out from the window. He was currently around 1,000 meters up from the ground. How easy would it be to just open the door? Then, how easy would it be to just jump out? He could already feel it; The sharp, rushing wind cutting through his skin; The drop of his stomach as he watches the ground get bigger and bigger. He would die - that much was sure. There was nothing but dirt, fires, and metal down there. Landing on anything would result in a sure death.

_So tempting!_

He switched his gaze from the window to Junko. She was grinning wildly. Her fingers moved with blinding speed, fiddling with the dashboard of the helicopter they were on. Naegi didn't know what those buttons and switches did - he doubted that Junko knew either. She was just trying to have fun, that was clear.

Whatever. She could do whatever the hell she wanted. In fact, if she pressed some sort of self-destruction button, he would welcome it. All that mattered right now was that she was distracted.

Death was preferable over despair. Death was even preferable over hope at this point. True, blind death. Death would free him from this nightmare.

But he didn't have that privilege, did he? No, he didn't. Every single time Naegi had lost his life, he had just returned, like a zombie or some sort of restless spirit. Wasn't that a nice picture? A zombie with an ahoge. Hilarious.

_What if I'm free? _Naegi thinks. _Did I experience true despair? If I did, maybe I'm free. I'm free, free. Free as a bird. I could fly, fly away from Junko. Maybe I'm free. Maybe. Just maybe._

Naegi gets up from his seat and walks over to the sliding door to his left. The helicopter was big enough so that he didn't have to crouch. Or maybe it was that he was just small enough so that he didn't have to crouch? Either way, he could stand up perfectly straight, and only his ahoge would touch the ceiling.

Junko didn't even look back. She continued to press random buttons on the dashboard, humming to herself. The only things she had on was a white dress shirt and a red miniskirt. Next to her feet lay a discarded cardigan. She had taken it off just after she had patched up Naegi's injured hand. He had bitten into it himself, causing several large gashes. Even now, blood was seeping out of his covered wounds (Junko's tie was wrapped around his hand as a makeshift bandage).

Why the hell had he done such a random and stupid thing? Was it despair? It probably was. Despair made people do all sorts of senseless things.

Such as mass murder, where all of the victims were the killer's friends.

Moving quickly, Naegi slides open the door. As he thought, it was unlocked. A smile had suddenly appeared on his lips, crooked and welcome. He could smell it. Death. Fire. Blood. It lingered in the air and called out to him, a siren of despair.

Did he dare?

"Oh, Makoto!" Junko says in a sing-song voice. She hadn't even turned around. "Get back in here and close the door! You wouldn't want to make Junko _mad _would you?"

…

He didn't dare. He couldn't dare.

The smile faded off of his mouth and was replaced with a small, tight lipped frown. Naegi closed the door and went back to his seat. The luckster gazes out of the window, seemingly indifferent. Junko went back to humming.

Nothing happened. Nothing at all.

* * *

"FUCK YOU!"

Owada's fist rockets through the air, heading towards its one and only destination - Naegi's face. Of course, this wasn't a surprise - Naegi had went through this scene a countless number of times. The only difference now was that Naegi wasn't sure what he wanted to do.

What route was he going to take? Was he going to take another shot at the regular ending? Go through the killing game, lose a majority of his friends, and then finally confront Junko at the end of an epic battle? If that was the case, he should probably take the punch. That way, he would end up unconscious and things would line up.

Or maybe he wanted to go for the hope filled ending? Save all of his friends? Go through all of that again?

Who knows? Maybe it would work this time. It wasn't like he had anything to lose.

…

Naegi ducked under the punch.

Then, he elbowed Owada right in the ribs. While the strike was seemingly random, it was actually calculated and precise, directly hitting Owada's intercostals. While there wasn't _too _much force put behind it, it was still enough to cause pain. A _lot _of it.

"Augh!" Owada's face quickly goes pale as he takes a sharp breath in. Before he could even process that he had just been hit, Naegi switches gears. He takes a small jump backwards and crouches before pistoning his leg up at his chin. A large cracking noise is heard as Owada stumbles backwards.

Owada heavily breathes in and out, face now covered in sweat. He rubs his jaw with one hand and rests the other on his knee. He kept his gaze locked at the floor.

The gym quickly went silent as Naegi's classmate stared at him in disbelief. Even Togami, who had been keeping a cool poker face up against Owada, seemed to be in shock. It felt good. It felt good to see them surprised. So Naegi thought, why stop there? He had been taught by both Ikusaba and Ogami. Why not use his skills? It might take his mind off of his situation, anyhow.

So he took three steps forward and raised his leg high up in the air. And right there, in front of his entire class, he performed a flawless axe kick on Owada. His heel cracked down on the base of Owada's skull, sending him sprawling across the floor. His face smashed across the floor. Small beads of blood began to form on Owada's head, staining his brown pompadour.

"Naegi!" Ogami takes a step forward and glares at him. Her eyes blazed with raw fury. "That is enough! Do not-"

Before Ogami could even finish her sentence, Naegi rushes forward and launches a punch at her. Ogami leans back, grabs his arm, and lifts the luckster up into the air. Then, she threw him as far away as she could. Naegi spins in the air before balling up and landing on the floor, converting his fall into a somersault.

Naegi gets up and looks at Ogami, giving her a calm smile that seemed to say: _Is that all?_

Slowly, Ogami begins to approach him. From behind her, Naegi's classmates watched with a sort of horrified interest. Ikusaba herself seemed to be particularly invested in the fight. Her eyes scanned Naegi over and over again, and her mouth moved in slow murmurs.

_So, I have to beat Ogami. _Naegi thinks. _And after that, I might have to fight Ikusaba._

_Sure._

_Why not?_

* * *

Naegi was lying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling.

He had been doing this for the past half hour.

Why?

Because there was nothing else to do.

Nothing he did worked. He had tried everything that he could think of. He had tried everything that _Kirigiri _could think of. The only thing that happened was that he was given false hope. Just a small sense of the outside world. A small sense of freedom. Then, he was ripped away from it. He felt like an animal, being led on by a treat on a stick. He chased and chased, but he could never reach it.

He could never reach hope.

Small tears began to trickle down his cheeks, and onto his pillow. The white sheets darkened as Naegi continued to stare up, unblinking. He could feel his heart and soul being crushed. It was suffocating him. Why was Junko so obsessed with him? Why did she feel the need to do this? Was it really just for despair? Or was there something else?

_*knock knock*_

After a moment's hesitation, Naegi rose from his bed and shuffled across his room to the door. That would be Maizono. She came here to use him in her murder plot. Again. And Naegi would have to play along. He would have to play along with her scheme. Or maybe Naegi would save her again? Launch another rambling speech about hope to prevent a murder. Either way, Naegi was indifferent. The only thing he could focus on was trying to prevent himself from going insane, or falling into a depression.

_Maybe those things had already happened. _Naegi thinks bitterly as he puts his hand on the doorknob. _Maybe I already am insane, or depressed, or both. It's actually the most likely thing at this point._

Taking a deep breath, Naegi uses his other hand to wipe away the tears from his eyes. Then, he opened the door.

"Maizono?" Naegi asks, trying his best to look surprised. Sure enough, she was standing there, with a pensive look in her eyes.

"..." Maizono didn't respond. Instead she looked into Naegi's eyes with a sort of worried interest. Then, after a few moments, she opened her mouth and said: "Naegi, are you okay?"

…

"W-What?" Naegi blinks. For the first time in a while, he was completely caught off guard. Maizono wasn't supposed to say that. She was supposed to say that someone knocked at her door. She was supposed to say that they should switch rooms for the night.

Had she noticed something? Naegi was sure that he kept his mask on for this time loop. The mask that rivaled Celeste's own.

"S-Sorry, but I can't shake off this feeling that… something is wrong with you." Maizono says. Her eyes suddenly widened and she shook her head. "I don't mean that in an insulting way or anything! It's just that when I look at you, I get this sense that you're hiding something big… and that you're really upset over it."

"Maizono." Naegi blinks rapidly. This was crazy. Unbelievable. What had changed? What did he do wrong? "You… I…"

"I don't think it's about the motive videos either." Maizono suddenly says. "You were like this even before the motive videos. So it can't be that, I think."

The motive videos. Yes. What had happened with Maizono? Now that he thought about it, he remembered that he forgot a step. When he watched his motive video, he didn't pay much attention to anyone else this time. Why would he? He knew all of their reactions. But Maizono was supposed to run out of the room. Did Naegi miss that? Did he miss his que to chase after her?

"What about you?" Naegi says in a wavering voice. "What did you think about your motive video?"

"To be honest… I didn't watch it." Maizono says. "I already had too much to worry about, and the video would have probably just made things worse for me."

"O-Oh." Naegi says in a quiet voice. A sinking sensation had formed in his stomach. He really was suffocating. Out of oxygen. The tears that he had wiped away threatened to form again. A buzzing cloud had begun to fill his head. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. It was all too much.

"Naegi, I'm an esper." Maizono says with a soft smile. The joke seemed forced and bland, but it still sent a jolt up Naegi's spine. "So just tell me. I'm supposed to be your… assistant, remember? Let me help you. What's bothering you?"

Broken. Naegi felt utterly, completely broken. Maizono's worried eyes, her delicate smile, everything. He wasn't ready for something like this. Suddenly, the tears began to flow and they wouldn't stop. A waterfall of raw grief and anguish flew out of the broken dam that was once Naegi. He felt himself collapse onto the floor. He didn't care.

"Naegi." Maizono whispers, wrapping her arms around him. She felt warm. Too warm. It was almost like the luckster was being enveloped in a flame. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong, but… I can help. Please, let me help you Naegi."

_She can't. She can't. No one can. Not her, not Junko, not Kirigiri. Only I can. Only I can help myself, and I'm not even sure that that's true._

Naegi began to shiver violently at that thought. But Maizono hugged him even tighter and the tremors were brought to a still. And then Naegi realized. Maybe she can help him. Maybe they all can help him. Did he really have to do this alone?

"... Maybe not." Naegi's voice was hoarse, even at a whisper. He could barely even hear himself speak.

Maybe not. Why was he doing this in the first place? He was doing this to save them. So that they wouldn't waste their lives here, in a pointless killing game. Wasn't that the point?

Yes. She was the reason. _They _were the reason. And _they _were here to help him. Together, they could get past the time loop. He wasn't alone after all.

"Okay. Thank you, Maizono. Thank you."

* * *

***A/N* Tiny bit of hope at the end there to balance the edge out. Final chapter of Act 3 coming up soon.**


	27. Act 3, Chapter 10

For how long had they walked together? Naegi didn't know. The concept of time was foreign to him at this point. The sky was plagued with smoke, and remained a dark crimson color at all times. For all he knew, it had been days. Maybe even weeks. Not months though - Naegi would have been sent back if that were the case. That was the one thing he was still sure of.

Naegi's feet were on fire. He could feel his toes throb in agony every single time he took a step. Keeping himself upright was a constant struggle. It felt like at any moment, he could just fall over and never get up. Of course, Kamukura seemed fine. Just fine. Ever since Naegi's second collapse, he hadn't looked back once to check if he was still following him. Two strikes. He had fallen twice. If he fell a third time, Naegi would lose him. He can't lose him. Three strikes, and you're out. Kamukura was the only person that existed.

Did that matter?

Probably not.

It still wouldn't be right to lose him though. It wouldn't be right to lose an angel.

But finally, Kamukura stopped. He stopped walking. _ He stopped walking _ . Naegi would have screamed in triumph if he had been able to. They had stopped. Naegi had reached his goal. He had, for the first time, _ won _ . This realization hit him like a truck, breaking him out of his stupor. _ He had won_. The taste of victory appeared on Naegi's lips. It tasted sweet and refreshing.

Kamukura had stopped in front of a door belonging to a small trailer. It was nondescript and completely gray. Naegi couldn't tell if the color came from the soot and ash that occasionally rained from the sky, or if it was just an old coat of paint. With a motion that seemed entirely too drawn out, Kamukura lifts his arm and places his hand on the doorknob. He gripped it, twisted it, and pushed. The door gave way without any resistance. Inside of the trailer, there was darkness. Just darkness, pitch black.

Finally, Kamukura looks back. There was no surprise in his eyes when he looked at Naegi, as if he had known that Naegi would last. But then again, he probably wouldn't have been surprised if Naegi hadn't been able to follow him either. Without a change in expression, Kamukura walks into the trailer, vanishing into the void.

It took a massive effort, but Naegi managed to start walking again. When he reached the doorway, a small part of the room became barely visible. A carpet lay, overturned on itself. On the floor next to the carpet, was an open trapdoor with a ladder.

With zero hesitation, Naegi gripped the side handles of the ladder. Then, he began to descend down. It was dark - even darker than the room itself. He was sure that things would only get darker, colder. So as he climbed down, he closed his eyes. Closed his eyes and went down. Down, down, down. Down to hell.

It was better. Better, with his eyes closed.

Much better.

* * *

A loud buzzing noise suddenly fills the air. With a silent gasp, Naegi jolts. He lost his grip on the ladder and fell backwards.

Naegi's frail body crashed onto the floor, less than half a second later. A sharp pain shot through his back and his head. Dimly, Naegi became aware of the fact that he couldn't feel his arms or legs anymore, and that the buzzing noise was still sounding. Somehow, he managed to open his eyes. He was greeted with a piercing blue light that seemed to be swallowing the entire room. Within the light, there was a silhouette.

It was Kamukura.

Naegi tried to lift himself up from the floor. He could barely even move. The best he could do was raise his head a bit. Kamukura remained completely still. He stared down at Naegi. His red eyes practically glowed, contrasting against the blue light.

_ Too much. Can't do it. At least I won. I won once. That's enough. _

Naegi closed his eyes again. The action brought immediate relief. The luckster could feel himself fading into unconsciousness. He didn't think that he was dying - more likely, he was just falling asleep. Asleep after a long day(?) of work. But he knew. He knew that, if he fell asleep, he would wake up and find himself back on that accursed desk. The layers of his classmate's blood would disappear from his skin and clothes. Exhaustion would be replaced with a dull headache.

And he would never see Kamukura ever again. He would never see the angel ever again.

_ No. Wait. That wouldn't be right. Fuck, it just wouldn't be right. _

Naegi opens his eyes.

He stands up.

Falls down.

Stands up.

Falls down again.

Stands up again.

…

Stays up.

"What is your motivation?" Kamukura asks. His voice cuts through the incessant buzzing smoothly, like a knife through hot butter. He really did look like an angel, in the harsh lighting and all. Naegi might have fallen in love, if he were able to.

"..." Naegi opens his mouth to respond, but found that his voice was gone.

"Drink." Kamukura suddenly holds out a plastic bottle. Naegi took it with trembling hands and wrapped his dry lips around the neck. Sweet, cool water fills his mouth and rushes down his throat, an impossible river amidst a desert. It was so cold that it almost hurt. He kept drinking until the bottle went dry. When it was empty, he lowered the bottle from his lips and broke into a nasty coughing fit. His stomach lurched and Naegi was suddenly sure that he was going to vomit.

But Kamukura was watching him, so he didn't. It wouldn't be right to vomit in front of him.

"Wauhhhhugh?" Some sort of sound came out of Naegi's mouth. He shook his head and tried again: "W… W-What?"

"What is your motivation?" Kamukura repeats.

"I'm… not sure if Naegi has a..." Naegi shakes his head. "I'm not sure if I have any motivations." Naegi says carefully. His voice was hoarse and unsettling, alien-like to even himself. "I don't think I do."

"No, you do." Kamukura says. Even though his tone remained neutral, Naegi couldn't help but sense the slightest touch of agitation. It was so insignificant that it could have been his imagination though. "Otherwise, you would not have followed me. Otherwise, you would not have gotten up to face me."

"Oh." Was all that Naegi could say in response. Kamukura was right, of course. He hadn't given up entirely. But why?

"You don't know." Kamukura says suddenly. "You don't know what your motivation is. Interesting."

"..."

"I brought you here because you interest me, Makoto Naegi." Kamukura takes a single step forward. His red, all knowing eyes completely consume the luckster. They were all he saw. No more blue. Just red. Red, like the stare of the apocalypse that was raging outside. "A logical analysis would conclude that you would be motivated for despair, or perhaps have no motivation at all. As the latter has been disproven, the only conclusion left is that you are motivated by despair. However, I do not think that's the case."

"_ Despair. _" Naegi says slowly. "No. Maybe not despair."

"Those who are in despair seek to hurt themselves, both mentally and physically." Kamukura says. "It is a masochistic lifestyle. While you fit this criteria to a high degree, there is one contradiction."

"..."

"Your murder of Junko was obvious. As you were in despair, seeking to kill the one you love would naturally be the most 'despairful' act you could have done. But you did not feel despair from her murder, did you? None at all."

"The one I love? Junko?" Naegi asks. "I guess that's the case. You're right about the last part too. I didn't feel despair. At that point, I just felt… numb, I guess. When I was walking towards her, I was already numb. The despair from the death of my friends was gone. I didn't feel anything. And then I killed Junko. I walked away from her corpse, and… nothing.."

"I know that despair is stronger than hope." Kamukura says, slowly moving backwards. Naegi began to take steps forward, oblivious of his own actions. "But despair is still as predictable. I was, at first, unaccustomed to despair. I took an interest in that feeling. However, I quickly became bored of despair as well. I learned how to predict it."

Kamukura suddenly takes a step to his left. The blinding blue light that his silhouette was blocking suddenly came into full blast. Naegi cringed and covered his eyes with his arm. After a few seconds, he slowly lowered his arm and started to blink rapidly. The light gradually turned into recognizable shapes. There were six flat monitors attached to the wall. Below them was a simple wooden desk and swivel chair. On the desk, there was a generic office keyboard and computer mouse.

Naegi looked around the room they were in. The walls looked like they were made out of silver boxes, glued together messily. He couldn't even see the ceiling - it was completely covered in thin black wires that are intertwined with each other like cobwebs. There were also a smaller amount of wires littering the floor. He was lucky that he hadn't tripped over one of them yet.

_ Hah. Luck. I forgot that… that _ ** _I_ ** _ had that talent. _

"I know that you do not continue living for hope, nor despair. You live for a third party. This third party may be my answer. Tell me, Naegi. Tell me about why you are here."

"I don't know." Naegi replies simply.

"Then tell me this. If you could use this time machine, what would you do?" Kamukura asks, nodding his head towards the monitors.

"Can I find out?" Naegi asks, stepping towards them.

"A manual is stored within it." Kamukura says. "You may do as you wish. There is more than enough time to ponder your decision."

"If I use it, won't you be affected?" Naegi gives Kamukura a questioning glance. "Then, you won't get your answer."

"I will." Kamukura deadpans. "Do you have any other questions?"

"Kirigiri and Nae - _ I _overloaded the time machine during one time loop. Ever since, it worked differently. Does it still function normally?"

"No." Kamukura says. "However, you can input a reboot command. That would fix the issue easily, without affecting the time you are currently inhabiting.. I have not used this command, as I did not see it necessary."

"Okay." Naegi nods and sits down on the chair. He squints as he looks up at the monitors.

This would do fine. Yes, this would do just fine.

* * *

"Video files?" Naegi asks. He had come across a folder that was filled with videos - 156 of them, according to the computer.

"Yes." Kamukura nods. "One for each time loop you have went through. This computer is connected to the video cameras within Hope's Peak. Once the time machine activates, the recordings are automatically saved and stored. I analyze each video to the best of my abilities. However, slowing down time is not one of my talents. I was unable to sufficiently examine each video its fullest extent."

"One hundred, fifty six. Fifty seven, if you include this time loop." Naegi says. He barks a short, hollow laugh and shakes his head. He could feel the dry flakes of blood sticking to his neck start to fracture from the motion. "That's it? I… I thought it must have been in the millions. That's funny. That's really funny."

Kamukura doesn't respond.

"Okay. That doesn't really matter anyway." Naegi says. "I know what I want to do. But I need something first. Something that's back at the school."

"I can retrieve it. What is the name of this item?" Kamukura asks.

"I'm actually not sure, but you should know where to find it. Junko used it to erase our memories, back at the very first killing game. Can you bring it here?" Naegi asks.

"... Very well."

* * *

_ 'I stand here now, inhabiting the tragic husk of a man. I have bloodied the hands of Makoto Naegi. I am him. I am not him. There is a god, one that exhibits neither hope nor despair. I surrender my love, my future, my hope, my despair, my everything, so that I may finally have my peace.'_

Pain.

This is what Makoto Naegi is currently feeling. He was suffering from a headache that was so bad that Naegi thought his head was surely being split into two. It was as if an iron pike was being stabbed into his brain.

_ What's… happening to me?  
_

He opened his eyes. Immedieately, he was overwhelmed with the putrid scent of the air. It smelled more like ash and dust than anything. The sky was a brooding dark crimson, and the sun was nowhere to be seen. There were just seas of pure black. Whether or not they were smoke or clouds, he didn't know. He sat up, wincing at the flare of pain the action incited. He looks around and sees that he was in the middle of an empty field, only containing long grass and the harsh sounds of wind blowing through them.

"W-Where am I?" Naegi asks out loud. The last thing he had remembered was crossing the gates to enter Hope's Peak Academy. He was so nervous, but excited at the same time... But as soon as he took a single step in, a wave of dizziness overtook him and he blacked out.

_IZURU KAMUKURA STOOD IN FRONT OF HIM HOLDING A PLASTIC BAG WITH HIS FRESHLY WASHED CLOTHING HE HANDED THEM TO HIM AND SAID_

Naegi yelps as his headache flares once again. Vague images flashed through his mind... But he had already forgotten what they were. All that was left was an unpleasant sense of confusion.

He takes a few steps forward, not really sure where he should go. Then, he heard several distinct popping noises. Then more of them. A lot. They sounded almost like explosions. Almost like... gunshots? But that was impossible right? Who in their right mind would be firing so many shots like that? Maybe he should check it out. It wasn't as if he knew where he was after all. And if there were people there, then he could get help.

His headache suddenly vanished. But Naegi didn't even seem to notice it. He just began walking towards the source of the sounds.

He doesn't look back.


	28. Act 4, Chapter 1

***A/N* This is the last 'Act' and will have multiple chapters, but still be shorter than the other ones. This act is the good ending and ****completely replaces Act 3****.**

* * *

_"Despair wins in the end? Puhuhuhu… So that's your decision?"_

_"..."_

_"What will you do now that you have an answer?"_

_"..."_

_"Oh, the silent treatment? That's not nice, you know."_

_"Despair is stronger than hope. Hope is weaker than despair. But it does not matter."_

_"What?"_

_"I am not looking for strength. I am looking for unpredictability. Naegi has met my expectations better than you have, Junko. He was able to directly affect your time machine; I believe that you hadn't been able to predict that outcome."_

_"I-I mean, no, but-"_

_"You have tried to show me the appeal of despair through strength. I do not need strength. Farewell, Junko. I have found my allegiance." _

* * *

_Act Four_

_Freedom_

_"Let's leave this place with confidence, and from there we can just create it on our own... The future we want!"_

_-Hajime Hinata_

* * *

_ Cold._

_So cold._

A few seconds after he finishes the countdown, darkness completely overtakes his vision as a disturbing feeling fills his body. Freezing liquid seems to replace the blood in his body as a biting chill covers him, like a blanket of snow. The pitch black darkness filling his vision seemed suffocating - he couldn't even tell if he was closing his eyes or not.

_Where am I?_

Naegi couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. All he could do was stay still as the cold completely fills him from head to toe.

_Dark._

_It feels so bad._

_…_

_I want to die._

* * *

**The 81st Killing Game**

Pain.

This is what Makoto Naegi is currently feeling. He was suffering from a headache that was so bad that Naegi thought his head was surely being split into two. It was as if an iron pike was being stabbed into his brain.

But the pain was a welcome surprise. He _needed _it. The pain had replaced the numbing cold of the void, and so it was welcome. He savored his headache and the sudden rush of warmth into his bones. How long had he been trapped in that freezing abyss? To Naegi, it felt like he was in there for years.

Naegi shivers violently and turns his head to try and vomit onto the floor. But he didn't even have the strength to do that, and just ended up dry heaving. It seemed as if every spot on his body was prickling. His mouth was completely numb - it reminded him of the time he had to had a tooth filled, and the dentist injected his gums with a drug in order to numb the pain.

Blinking rapidly, Naegi shakily stands up from the desk. As soon as he does, his legs fail him and Naegi collapses onto the floor. This caused his headache to flare up once again. Naegi lets out an agonized groan as his vision seems to flicker. As another bout of shivers wracks his body, Naegi tries to prop himself up on his elbows and knees, but even that proved to be too much effort. Panting, the luckster gives up and instead rolls on the floor so that he was facing the ceiling.

"F-Fuck." Naegi groans and puts a hand on his forehead. Along with a thin sheen of sweat, Naegi realized that he was burning up. His forehead felt hot enough to fry an egg on.

_Good. Anything is better than the cold._

Naegi darts his eyes around. He was in the classroom. The same classroom he had woken up in eighty times before. All of the windows were bolted shut with giant iron plates, and there was a security camera staring at him from a corner. Panic starts to replace the confusion and relief in Naegi's heart.

_Did the time machine malfunction? Am I stuck here forever?_

"N-No." Naegi mutters out loud. "Too early to assume. Calm down, Naegi."

Gritting his teeth, Naegi forces himself to sit up from the floor. Ignoring the amplified wave of nausea, he slowly gets up on his feet. Looking down. Naegi sees that his hands were trembling. He felt like he could collapse at any moment. It was taking all of his strength to even stand up right now. He couldn't even imagine trying to walk in this condition.

_It had to work. It had to work. I will NOT time travel again. _

Naegi somehow walks anyway, walks to the main hall. Moving forwards, Naegi prepares to meet his classmates for the last time.

* * *

Once again, Naegi stands in front of the giant locked door. Once again, he is surrounded by his friends. They all face the door, breaths caught in their throats. The tension in the air was noticeably thick, but also light at the same time, somehow.

The only difference now is that more of his friends were standing by him this time.

No one had died.

He saved everyone, for what seemed like the millionth time.

Leon Kuwata, Mukuro Ikusaba, Sayaka Maizono, Chihiro Fujisaki, Mondo Owada, Ishimaru Kiyotaka, Hifumi Yamada, Celestia Ludenberg, Sakura Ogami… Naegi had even saved Junko Enoshima, the mastermind of the killing game.

Naegi grips the remote to the outside world in his hands tightly. Like everyone else here, he was nervous, but for an entirely different reason. This was the moment of truth - did overloading the time machine work? Would he be free?

Suddenly, someone steps up next to Naegi. It was Ikusaba - somehow, even in the quiet empty hall, no one had heard her walk up to them.

"Oh, Ikusaba! You're here!" Naegi smiles brightly as the Ultimate Soldier joins the 78th class.

Blushing slightly, Ikusaba nods. "I'm ready. Let's go."

"Oh my FUCKING god, sis. Will you just ask him out already? Aren't soldiers supposed to be _brave _?" Junko snickers, still tied up and being carried around by Ogami. "Claim him before someone else does!"

"J-Junko!"

Naegi sighs and pats Ikusaba on the shoulder. "Just ignore her."

"Right…"

"Well…" Kirigiri clears her throat as she scans the small crowd. "Does anyone have objections? This is your last chance, really."

"Kill me."

Other then Junko's blunt comment, no one raises any objections.

"Very well." Kirigiri glances at Naegi. "Let's go."

With trembling arms, Naegi brings up the remote and holds a finger over it. His heart was beating so loudly that he was sure that everyone around him could hear it. He had saved each and every one of his classmates again, and hopefully, for the last time.

Naegi shifts his eyes to Junko. She was grinning sadistically at him, with an expression of triumph. Her grin only widened when she sees that Naegi was looking at her.

…

Naegi presses the button.

The door opens.

A piercing bright light fills the room.

"O-Oh. Oh." Naegi shivers violently, accidently dropping the remote in the process. It clatters at his feet. He wasn't sent back in time. He could actually _see _the outside world. For the first time in a long time, true hope begins to blossom in Naegi's chest. "I… I'm free? I didn't go back in time?"

"Go back in time?" Kirigiri asks. She was standing right next to him and was giving him a worried stare. "Naegi, are you okay? What do you mean by that?"

Naegi looks at her with a gaping mouth. An indescribable amount of gratitude suddenly fills him so fast that the world seemed to flip upside down. She was the one who gave him this plan. If it weren't for her, he would still be trapped in the time loop. But her plan worked. She saved him.

Tears pricking the edges of his eyes, Naegi surges forward and hugs Kirigiri. She gasped once in response, but doesn't try to move away.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Naegi mutters under his breath.

"..." Kirigiri awkwardly pats him on the back, obviously unsure of how to respond. After a few seconds, Naegi pulls away from the hug and gives her a grateful smile. He couldn't even express in words how lucky he felt right now.

Meanwhile, the other students are gaping at the scene in front of them - sure enough, the world was in an apocalyptic state. Everywhere you looked, you could see destroyed buildings. Street fights were raging on, helicopters were in the air, and dancing fires decorated the landscape, producing thick pillars of smoke.

The world was terrible.

But Naegi didn't care. He was free. Free from the time loop, free from Junko's 'punishment'. It was the best future that he could have ever hoped for. As long as he was really free… well, that was heaven for him.

Four of the helicopters that were littering the sky suddenly lands in front of them. Several soldiers came rushing out of them, armed with rifles and bulletproof vests. "Students of Hope's Peak Academy!" One of them shouts.

"We are the Future Foundation, an organization focused on rebuilding this world. Please, come with us! We shall offer you food, shelter, and protection."

No one responds. They were still too busy taking in the apparent apocalypse.

Naegi clumsily takes a step forwards. Nothing could describe the extreme sense of bliss and hope that had blossomed inside of him. All of his hard work was finally paying off. He was free from the shackles of time - Naegi could barely believe it.

"It's 8:59 in the morning, yet the sky is so dark!" Ishimaru suddenly reports, staring down at his watch. Sweat was pouring down his forehead like a waterfall. "Why is it also red?!"

"The sky turned like that when the Tragedy happened." Owada says, putting a hand on Ishimaru's shoulder. During this time loop, Ikusaba had given them their memories back via use of the flashback lights. "Remember, bro?"

"Oh, I suppose you're right! I apologize, I am still rather confused from what's been happening." Ishimaru coughs awkwardly and scratches the back of his head. "The return of our memories have been… jarring, to say the least."

"Will you join us?" One of the soldiers asks. While his question was directed to all of them, he seemed to be focusing on Naegi. Apparently, he was being addressed as the spokesperson of this group - which may or may not have been accurate.

"I… I will." Naegi says firmly. His mind had been made up ever since he had first woken up. He promised himself that if he had really escaped the time loop, then he would do whatever he could to spread hope to the world. It was only right. "When I look around, I see despair… I want to do whatever I can to fix that. I want to rebuild the world, in the name of hope."

"I will join your organization as well." Kirigiri says, stepping up next to Naegi. She had a look of cold determination on her face. "Whatever it takes to rid the world of this despair… I'll do it."

"I promise to rebuild this world, and revive the Togami Empire." Togami says, pushing his glasses up. "If joining this Future Foundation would be beneficial to that cause, then so be it. I expect nothing less than pure gratitude for this."

"If M-Master Byakuya is joining, then I will too!" Fukawa drools and presses both of her hands together. Her cheeks were lit up in a fierce blush. "S-So graceful…"

One by one, Naegi's other classmates voice their agreements to join the Future Foundation. Their heart-felt promises to rebuild the world slowly began to repair Naegi's cracked soul. Gradually, he regains the feeling in his limbs. Naegi's hollow heart fills with hope.

By the end of it all, there were only two students left - as expected, Ikusaba and Junko had kept silent.

"Ugh. This sucks. Seriously, I think I'm gonna be totally sick from all of this hope-speak." Junko pouts from the top of Ogami's shoulder. "Do I really have to stay with you guys? Can't I at least get a pair of ear plugs or something?"

"Junko Enoshima, for orchestrating this entire apocalypse and masterminding the Killing Game, you will be placed under arrest and held until further notice for a trial." A soldier says. He turns his gaze to Ikusaba. "As her accomplice, you will also be held under arrest."

"..." Ikusaba stares back at him with cold eyes.

"Come onnnnn, sis!" Junko starts flailing about unexpectedly. Ogami grunts and tightens her hold on Junko before she slipped out. "Do your soldier stuff! Kill them!"

Ikusaba's hand instinctively twitches towards her knife. It was practically hard coded into her brain to follow any order Junko gave her, without asking any questions. But now, things were different.

"Ikusaba." Naegi says pleadingly. "Please."

…

"I submit to your arrest." Ikusaba sighs and holds both of her hands in front of her, so that she could be cuffed. "I speak for my sister as well."

The soldiers looked at each other, clearly having not expected for her to surrender so easily. Hesitantly, one steps forward and quickly snaps a pair of handcuffs on her. After that, two more walk up to Ogami and takes Junko's tied up body from her.

"What the heck?!" Junko snarls. She starts squirming around as she is carried towards a helicopter. "Sis! Slaughter them like the pigs they are! For despair!"

"No." Ikusaba says firmly. As she is lead to the helicopter that Junko was being taken to by the soldier who cuffed her, she takes one more look back at Naegi. He smiles at her reassuringly. Then, she knew everything would be okay. This was the right choice. With a small smile of her own, she turns back around and boards the helicopter, ignoring Junko's pointed glares. For her entire life, she had only known the despair of death and war. It was time to find hope.

Naegi exhales as some of the tension in his bones suddenly air out. He looks at his friends. They were all alive. Each and every one of them. It was a tiring journey, but…

He had finally reached the end.

_Okay. It was worth it. I can say that now._

_It was worth it._


	29. Act 4, Chapter 2

_ Naegi could hear someone screaming. He looked around the trial room - no one was there. Who was screaming? He could hear the distinct tone of terror in their voice. Something hot and warm covered his hands and clothes. The unwelcoming stench of copper filled his nostrils, causing his nose to wrinkle unpleasantly.. His eyes drift downwards… downwards to Junko. _

_ Her neck was cut wide open and there was a torrent of blood spilling out. Blood, blood, blood, blood. Blood everywhere. On his hands, on his clothes, on his shoes, on the floor. Pink almost completely filled his vision. Junko's face stared up at him with a wide, gaping smile that seemed to consume him. Blood bubbled up from the back of her throat. Her teeth were stained pink. _

_ Naegi screamed and jumped up. Suddenly, his heart began to race at a million miles an hour. He looked down at his clothes. They were covered in still-warm blood. His hands were also painted with blood, trembling so much that he almost dropped the knife he was holding. _

_ The knife he was holding…? _

_ "You killed me." Junko moans and sits up. A giant slit was on her neck. More blood spewed out of it, splashing onto the floor like a waterfall. Her smile widens as she takes a staggering step forwards. Her eyes were dark pits. _

_ Naegi screams again, his voice joining the ongoing chorus in the background. Junko suddenly breaks out in a run. Instinctively, Naegi holds out his knife and closes his eyes. Junko collides with him at what felt like mach 10. They both fall backwards onto the floor. Naegi feels an ocean of boiling liquid splatter on his face. _

_ Panting heavily, Naegi opens his eyes. Junko was laughing now. Her face was only an inch away from his own. _

_ "YOU DID IT! YOU KILLED ME! YOU KILLED ME!" She screamed over and over again. _

_ "YOU KILLED ME!" _

_ "N-No!" Naegi protests. Tears streamed down his face, mixing in with Junko's blood. "I didn't mean to! Junko, it was an accident! Stop!" _

_ "YOU KILLED ME!" _

_ It felt like Naegi's eardrums were going to burst. He couldn't stand this for much longer. Desperately, he tried to push Junko's body off of him. But she felt like she weighed a thousand pounds. Somehow, her smile seemed to stretch even wider. She grabs both of his arms and pins them to the ground with an iron grip. _

_ "STOP!" Naegi sobs hysterically. "LEAVE ME ALONE! ST-" _

* * *

"-OP IT!"

"Makoto!" Kirigiri says, with the slightest touch of alarm on her face. She held both of his arms down as Naegi thrashed around from underneath her, screaming in a blind panic. "Wake up! Makoto, wake up!"

"STOP!"

Gritting her teeth, Kirigiri quickly lets go of one of his arms. Then, before he could do anything, she pulls her arm back as far as she could and slapped Naegi across the face. Naegi lets out a single gasp before his body went still. After a few seconds, Naegi opened his eyes and looked up at Kirigiri uncomprehendingly. They were both panting heavily from their struggle.

"W-What?" Naegi blinks groggily and looks around. He wasn't in the courtroom at Hope's Peak. He was on his bed in his room at the Future Foundation headquarters. The cold, hard floor underneath him morphed into a soft, cushioned mattress. It wasn't Junko who was holding him down - it was Kirigiri. There was barely any light in his room, but he could still make out her stern face and lavender hair.

"You were having a nightmare." Kirigiri sighs and lets go of his arm. She falls back into a sitting position and brushes a loose strand of hair away from her face. "I could hear you screaming out from the hallway. You left your door unlocked, so I went in to check up on you. I thought that you were being attacked, or something."

"Oh." Was all Naegi could say. He sits up and rubs his cheek. He could feel a hot, stinging sensation spread across his face. He could tell that it was going to leave a mark. "S-Sorry."

"Don't be." Kirigiri replies flatly. Despite her neutral tone, her eyes betrayed how concerned she was. "It isn't your fault... but I would like to know what your nightmare was about. You said Junko's name, and something about an accident."

Naegi's blood freezes as the temperature in the room suddenly plummets. He shivers as Junko's murder is replayed in his mind. Could he really tell Kirigiri about his dream?

"Kyoko… I don't really feel comfortable about telling you." Naegi says quietly. He flicks his eyes to his right as Kirigiri's gaze sharpens. According to his digital clock, it was 11 PM. "Not because I don't trust you or anything, it's just… I just don't want to talk about it."

…

Kirigiri sighs and crosses her arms. "If you don't want to tell me, then fine. But the Future Foundation offers therapy and counseling services for anyone who needs them. I don't know what's on your mind about Junko, but I suggest that you get your thoughts in order. I have a feeling that these nightmares are recurring."

Naegi winces. That last part was true. Ever since he had gotten here, nightmares had begun to plague his sleep. Sometimes, he finds himself back at the desk he always woke up on. Sometimes, he's in a class trial. Sometimes, he is being murdered by one of his classmates (usually Ikusaba, disguised as Junko). But most of the time, it was Junko. He always kills her with a knife.

Always.

"I know that I'm not the most appealing person to talk to when it comes to these matters." Kirigiri says in an offhand matter. "Just remember, you have friends here. We've all been together for years. So don't hesitate to talk to anyone, okay?"

...

"... I'll take your silence as an affirmation." Kirigiri gets off of his bed and stands up straight. "I'll leave now. Have a good night, Mako-"

"Ok." Naegi says quietly. His voice was barely above a whisper, yet somehow seemed to sound like a shout.

"I'll tell you."

* * *

Two hours had passed, and even though he only summarised most parts, Naegi still hadn't finished his entire story. It was a good thing that he had a cup of water next to his bed. Otherwise, he probably would have lost his already weakened voice midway through his explanation. Naegi was at the part when he killed Junko. How would she look at him if she knew that he was a murderer?

"S-So this was at like… I don't know exactly, but probably my five hundreth time through or something." Naegi says, staring down at his empty cup. He couldn't bear looking at Kirigiri right now. She hadn't said anything, save for a few questions. Naegi would have preferred it if she acted skeptical of the whole thing. "I-I went down to the trial ground… I waited until Junko showed up… Then, I managed to r-restrain her, and…"

Naegi shivers violently and nearly drops his cup. Images of Junko's massacred body flashed through his mind again. It would never leave his mind. For as long as he lived, he was sure that he would be plagued by her dead body, like a curse.

"Are you okay?" Kirigiri asks. Her voice was surprisingly soft.

Slowly, Naegi looks up at Kirigiri. Her expression was one that he had never seen, nor did he ever expect to see on Kirigiri. Gone was the cold, expressionless veil that the detective always kept on. Instead, her face was filled with concern and even some trace amounts of fear. Tentatively, Naegi asks:

"Do you believe me? I-I mean… do you think I'm telling the truth? Or do you think that I'm…" Naegi gulps and shakes his head as he put his cup down. "Or do you think that I'm crazy or something?"

"I can't say that I know how you feel, or what's in your mind right now. I've never been good at this kind of thing." Kirigiri says quietly. "But I don't think you're crazy. I believe you."

…

"Okay. I... pinned Junko down to the floor. I asked her about the time machine… T-Then she told me. She told me that… she erased her memory, so she didn't know where it was. She started to laugh. She laughed. _ She laughed at me _." Naegi's breathing suddenly started to get heavier. He suddenly felt very itchy - hot pin-pricks popped up all over his scalp. He raises his hands and dug his fingers into his hair. "So I.. I didn't think. I didn't see it, I didn't e-even know I did it. But I-"

"Let's skip this part, okay?" Kirigiri gently reaches over and pulls both of Naegi's hands down from his hair. "You don't need to tell me what happened then. Just tell me how you escaped."

"Yeah. Okay." Naegi takes a shuddering breath. "You had that… that backup plan. Remember? So we did it. I convinced everyone to help. I-I was sent back again, and it hurt. It hurt a lot more. Oh my god, it was cold. It was so cold, why was it so cold?" Tears pour down the luckster's face as his hands start shaking. He could feel it - he could feel the icy numbness fill his veins. "It felt like I was freezing to death. I-Is that how it feels? I just w-wanted to die. Just to hurry up and di-"

Kirigiri silently pulls Naegi into a hesitant embrace. All at once, the sharp cold melted away to her warmth.

"... And I did it again. That was the last time. I escaped. _ We _escaped. You saw me, didn't you? We escaped." Naegi whispers.

"Together."

* * *

Even after he talked to Kirigiri, the nightmares continued to plague Naegi's sleep. He knew that he couldn't go on like this for long. Already, some effects of his stressful sleep had started to get to him. It stuck to him during the days like a leech, sapping all of his energy and usual positivity. The luckster had started to rely on drinking _ coffee _of all things to get through the day.

Finally, Kirigiri had come to him with a suggestion.

"Hi, Makoto." Kirigiri says, sitting down in a couch across from him. They were at the Future Foundation's lounge room. Naegi had been drinking from a cup of black coffee, reading a script that the Future Foundation had given him. They wanted him to appear on a television broadcast along with his other classmates in order to spread hope throughout the country. Even with Junko's capture, despair still lingered, though it was disappearing quickly.

"Oh. Hey Kirigiri." Naegi says, looking up. His pale face brightened slightly at the sight of her - for the past months, she had been helping him get through life. In a way, she had become a sort of counselor for him. When he was still trapped within the killing game, he wouldn't have ever imagined that Kirigiri would ever do such a thing.

"More nightmares?" Kirigiri asks, eyeing his cup of coffee. "Are they at least getting better?"

Naegi sighs heavily and shakes his head. A few strands of hair dropped out of his head and fluttered to the floor. He had been losing hair over stress - nearly every day, he woke up to a small pile of it on his pillow. "I don't know why, but whenever I'm having them, I can't tell myself that I'm dreaming. It's just me and Junko, reliving… that _ scene _."

"You mentioned that you sometimes have other nightmares. Are those at least gone?" Kirigiri asks.

"Yeah." Naegi says. "But that's not exactly a good thing… It just makes me watch _ her _over and over again. I'm… really tired. Just tired of this."

Sighing, Kirigiri puts a hand on her temple. Suddenly, she seemed to have aged ten years. "Makoto, I'm a detective - not a psychologist, or a therapist. I'm not afraid to admit that I'm not exactly the most qualified person to help you with this."

"Kyoko, you're the only person I can trust for this." Naegi says. "Who else can I talk to? Sure, there are therapists here. But if I tell them that I'm a time traveler, they're just going to think that I'm crazy."

"You have other friends, don't you?" Kirigiri asks, raising a brow. "You could talk to Mukuro - she knows first hand how it feels to deal with Junko. Or maybe Taka. He's acted as a stand-in for the school counselor multiple times before the Tragedy."

Naegi shakes his head. "Mukuro is getting ready for her trial. She will be too busy to help me for at least another few months. And the only solutions Taka ever gave to anyone who asked for help was to 'work harder and push forwards'. I trust my friends more than anyone else, but… I don't think that they can help me, at least not with this."

...

"Makoto… There is one possible solution." Kirigiri says after a moment's hesitation.

_ "By the way, Naegi… There is one possible solution." _

_ Instantly, Naegi perks up. He couldn't keep the desperation out of his voice as he starts shouting. "Really?! What is it?! Tell me!" _

_ "It may be risky, but if there's no other choice… Trying to overload the time machine might break you out of this time loop." _

Naegi shakes his head, clearing his head of the random memory. Blinking rapidly, Naegi puts his script down on the table and looks at Kirigiri hopefully. "A solution? What is it? I'd probably do anything at this point."

"... Find resolution." Kirigiri says simply.

"What?"

"It's just a thought, but the most reasonable line of action would be to talk to Junko." Kirigiri says. "I'm sure that if you asked, you could get the chance to talk to her privately. It would be the best way to find resolution… but at the same way, it could just make things worse."

"Talk to… Junko?" Naegi echoes.

Kirigiri nods. "She _ is _the basis of your nightmares."

"..." Naegi glances down at his feet. Junko had put him through a literal hell. In return, he had murdered her with a knife. Of course, Junko probably didn't know that he killed her - but _ he _knew. That fact alone would probably make this near impossible for him to do, but…

"This should probably only be a last resort plan, if you feel like there's no other way to-"

"I'll do it. Right now. I'll do it. Thank you, Kyoko." Naegi says, standing up. He starts towards the exit, waving goodbye to the detective. "See you later - I'm going to try and find Junko."

"W-What?" Kirigiri stands up as well and quickly catches up with Naegi. She seemed to have been genuinely caught off guard by his stout response, which was rare. "_ Right now? _Makoto, at least give it some thought. This is reckless."

"Kyoko, your last plan helped me get out of the time loop." Naegi smiles at her reassuringly. "This is a lot less complicated. I trust your judgement, more than my own."

"You…" Kirigiri rolls her eyes and sighs in frustration. "I'm just saying that you should think about it some more. You haven't seen Junko ever since we left Hope's Peak. What are you going to say to her? What if she just refuses to talk?"

Naegi shakes his head. "Junko wouldn't refuse the chance to talk to me. I know that much. And as for what I'm going to say… well, you said it yourself, right? Find resolution. I'll try to understand her, try to find something in her. Maybe… maybe that would put my mind to ease or something."

Kirigiri slows down and lets Makoto walk past her. "... Junko's cell is on the first floor, room 108." She raises her voice slightly as the distance between her and Makoto grew. "Good luck, and be careful."

Makoto raises his hand in farewell without turning around or slowing down. A few seconds later, he turns right and walks down a nearby flight of stairs.

"Good luck…" Makoto muses to himself. His voice was steady, but his heart was racing at a million miles an hour.

_ I've got that part covered, at least. _

* * *

***A/N* I don't really like how this chapter turned out, but I already rewrote it like three times so I decided to just publish it. As I said, Act 4 is going to be shorter than the others - the next chapter is probably going to be the last one for the entire fic.**


	30. Act 4, Chapter 3

"Naegi, you know that Munakata would probably flip a table or something if he knew about what you're trying to do, right?" Kizakura leans back in his chair and takes a short gulp from his canteen. "In fact, the guards here are usually under strict orders to specifically bar anyone from your class from coming in here."

"Well…" Naegi sticks his hands in his pockets and looks around the room. It looked almost exactly like the lounge he had been in with Kirigiri, except for the fact that there was a bolted iron door on the wall, along with a sort of toll booth that seemed to be made entirely out of metal. Kizakura was sitting in the toll booth, looking as carefree as one could be. "There _ aren't _any guards, right? I mean, it looks like it's just you here."

Kizakura chuckles. "Some sort of emergency situation happened just outside of the headquarters. I think it was a raid by one of the Remnants or something. Anyway, I was stuck here to supervise." He raises a small box up for Naegi to see. It had a small red button on it. "They said that if someone escaped, I should press this button to sound an alarm."

"Kizakura… I promise it won't take long." Naegi says. "There's been a lot of things in my mind lately, and I think this would really help clear my head. So please? I would really appreciate it."

"Yeah, sure. Why not? It's not like you can even open any of the doors anyway." Kizakura stifles a yawn and pushes the small box through a slit on the window of his booth. Then, he presses on something on his desk. A clicking noise came out of the iron door. When Naegi tried the handle, it opened easily. "You're gonna have to talk to her through the door, kiddo. Have fun."

_ I really do have good luck, don't I? _ Naegi thinks as he thanks Kizakura. He grabs the small box and walks in, closing the door behind him. _ That was almost too easy… _

Inside, the luckster is greeted with an extremely long and narrow hallway. Glaring fluorescent lights lined the ceiling, making Naegi squint as he looked around. On his right, a seemingly endless string of doors lined the walls. Each one was numbered with a big, red number and had metal bars instead of windows.

Slowly, Naegi beings to walk down the hallway. No matter how softly he tried to walk, his footsteps echoed clearly and loudly throughout the didn't know which door was Junko's, so he had to look inside of each room to check. They were all white, padded rooms that seemed like stereotypical mental asylum rooms. Most had no one in them, but every once in a while, he saw a person inside of one of the rooms. He didn't recognize most of them, but a few he knew.

_ That's… Mioda, isn't it? _ Naegi thinks to himself as he looks into the room that was labeled **8\. **He remembered her as one of the students from the upper class, from before the tragedy happened. According to what the Foundation had told him, she, along with the rest of her class, became the Remnants of Despair. Ever since Junko's capture, the Future Foundation had apparently begun to make progress with tracking them down, one by one.

Mioda looked up and made eye contact with Naegi. She smiled nastily and waved a hand in the air. Next to her lay a plastic headband with what looked like drill horns attached to them.

Naegi quickly moved on.

* * *

Right before Naegi could look into a room that was labeled **32**, a thin, pale hand suddenly shot out from the bars and grabbed him by the front of his hoodie. Naegi yelped and grabbed at the arm with both of his hands. With uncharacteristic strength, the hand lifted the luckster about a foot off the ground and pulled him towards the door.

All at once, Naegi found himself face to face with yet another one of his seniors from Hope's Peak.

"S-Stop! Let go of me!" Naegi says, trying to pull himself away from his assailant.

"Oh… Oh! OH! I apologize. Please forgive me - I didn't know that it was you."

Suddenly, the hand releases Naegi. He lands on both of his feet and stumbles back in surprise. After a moment's hesitation, Naegi looks through the bars of the door.

"Are you…" Naegi blinks. "Komaeda?"

The pale face that was being pressed against the bars lights up. "You know my name? Ah, for someone such as I to be remembered by such a hope-filled Ultimate… I really am lucky!"

"I heard about you." Naegi says. "My sister mentioned you once. I didn't know that you were being held here though."

"Oh, Komaru!" Komaeda smiles pleasantly. "Even without talent, she still manages to shine with such brilliant hope! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, since _ you're _her brother."

_ *BOOM* _

Suddenly, a gigantic booming noise shakes the building, causing both of them to jolt. The harsh white lights turned off for half a second, leaving nothing but pure black. Then, they turned back on, just as bright as it was before.

"R-Right." Naegi takes a backward step away from Komaeda. Inwardly, he thanks whatever that noise was for the chance to get away from him. "I'm going to… uh, check out what that was, I guess. I should probably go. Have a good day, Komaeda."

"Wait, wait!" Komaeda shouts. He sticks his arm through the bars and bangs his fist on the door from the inside. The loud clanging startled Naegi, causing him to jump. "The last thing I would want is to get in the way of an Ultimate, but I _ must _ know. Are you really going to check what that noise was? Or are you actually going to see _ her? _"

"How…" Naegi stared at him with wide eyes. "How did you know?"

"Ahhh… Lucky guess, I suppose." Komaeda whispers. His pupils dilated and his mouth morphed into a crooked grin. "I look forward to seeing how your hope fares against her despair. Perhaps this is what I've been waiting for. Win, Naegi. I believe in your hope. _ Win _."

"Aren't you supposed to be… a Remnant?" Naegi asks, feeling more and more unnerved by the second. He decided at once that he didn't like Komaeda all too much - which was the exact opinion shared by her sister. "A Remnant of Despair?"

"That's what I am, I suppose." Komaeda nods frantically. "But… I do not love despair. I despise it. I believe that despair exists to cull weak hope. From their ashes, a new, stronger hope will arise, like a phoenix. You and your classmates are the phoenix. I'm so lucky, aren't I? To be here to witness the birth of this bright hope… Yes, I'm lucky indeed."

Komaeda's insane smile suddenly shrunk into a calm, almost hollow smile. The madness in his eyes left and was replaced with melancholy. "Which is great, because luck is the only thing I'm good for anyways."

* * *

Finally, after what seemed like hours of walking, Naegi reached the end of the hallway. He had checked each and every door, and now he was at door one hundred. There was nothing special about the door - it looked like every other door in the hallway. The only thing different was that instead of being on his right, the door was located right in front of him. Why was Junko put at the last door? Was it so that she couldn't escape as easily? Was it because of her status as the Ultimate Despair? Naegi didn't know, or particularly care. He was just glad to have arrived.

Taking a deep breath, Naegi raises his fist and knocks on the door. His hollow knocks echoed through the hallway, sending shivers down his spine.

…

"Hey, Junko?" Naegi asks. "It's me. Naegi."

…

Naegi sits down on the floor. His legs were tired - very tired. He scoots over so that his back was against the hundreth door. The cold metal felt strangely soothing, pressed up against him. When no response came, Naegi sighed. "Look, I just want to talk. You know, about the whole time travel thing."

…

"You really put me through some stuff, Junko. But I did it. I freed myself." Naegi cracks out a hesitant smile. "Kirigiri helped, and so did everyone else."

…

"Your plan was to send me into despair, right?" Naegi's smile faded. "If I had to be honest, then I would say that… well, it kind of worked, I guess. Even now, when I'm free, I still have dreams. Nightmares, really. About my time in the killing game. I'm pretty sure it's all because of one thing that I did."

…

"Do you want to know, Junko? Do you want to know what you made me do?"

…

"I killed you, Junko." Naegi's voice was brittle and dry. At any moment, it could have broken into two, never to be whole again. "I regret it. I wasn't even conscious when I did it. Not really. But I still killed you. With a knife."

…

"Why won't you talk to me?" Small streams of tears poured down Naegi's face. He wasn't even aware of them. Visions of that _ scene _played out in his head over and over again, like a move reel on loop. He kept seeing himself pierce her throat with the knife, and the blood that spewed out as a result. "Junko, why won't you talk to me?"

…

_ Is she dead? _An unspeakable horror began to crawl up his throat. Drops of sweat suddenly began to form on the back of his neck. Slowly, Naegi stood back up, wincing at the popping of his knee joints as he did so. He took a deep breath, and then looked into the hundredth prison cell.

And there, right where a wall was supposed to be, his eyes met the outside world. The sky was still red, and the sun shined in the same light. There were no clouds. Smoking pillars rose from piles of rubble in the room and wafted outside. He could see dead bodies just outside of the empty wall. Pink blood. Most of them were skinny and frail, with ragged pieces of clothing that fluttered loosely in the wind, like leaves on a tree. One of the bodies had on a large, white dress on along with a shiny tiara. A flower was pinned to the right of her chest, and in her hands was an unusually large rifle. A red bazooka was strapped to her back. The other corpses had police vests and ballistic helmets on. On their chests, two big letters were plastered - **FF**.

On top of one of the corpses belonging to the Future Foundation, there was a pigeon. Black dots decorated its entire body - ash.

Naegi stared at it for a long time. Eventually, he heard rapid footsteps echo from behind him. Another moment passes before they stop, just behind him. Then, a hand is placed on his shoulder.

"Let's go, kid. We need to find out what happened here, and it won't do you any good to just stand around." Kizakura says in a level voice.

"Okay."

* * *

_"Outside, cold and ghosting out with jet lag." _

_ Fin _


End file.
